Big Brother
by PinataRock
Summary: When Tails wishes to know what it is like to be the big brother, he never expected it to come true. Finding out how to undo it is hard enough without having to look after a five year old blue hedgehog. REVIEWS AND FAVES ARE MUCH GRATEFUL!
1. Brother's feud

**Big Brother**

**Chapter 1: Brother's Feud**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

The Mystic Ruin is often visited by many people for the feeling of peace that being out in the wilderness can sometimes bring. However if anybody did visit the vast valley on this night expecting that tranquil feeling they would be very disappointed due to a large amount of shouting which gave off a very different vibe.

The shouting was coming from a house on a hill not far from the train station, close to the cliff side. It wasn't the biggest place to live despite all the nearby free land but it was enough for the pair that resides there. This was the workshop of Miles Prower, better known as Tails but it housed both the orange anthromophic, twin tailed fox but also his adoptive older, Sonic the Hedgehog, the anthromophic blue hedgehog who uses his ability to run at the speed of sound to keep Mobius safe. Normally the pair were as close as you can get to a friend but currently the two heroes were having a spat.

The loud shouting mostly consisted of "I hate you" and "you can be jerk at times". The door opened and three Mobians came out. One was pink hedgehog with green eyes who wore a red dress and red boots with a white strip down the middle. Unlike most hedgehogs she wears hers down hugging her head like human hair. This individual was well known for wanting for spend time with the blue speedster but even Amy Rose could tell that this wasn't the time.

"We'll just let ourselves out. See you guys after you make up" she called inside the hose before closing the door before sighing.

"Well, that was great use of my time" another voice said, this one male. The speaker was a creature called an echidna. He had purple eyes, red fur and a white birthmark on his chest in the shape of a crescent. His spines resembled dreadlock and green and yellow shoes with an odd buckle which resembled a Lego block. He was Knuckles the Echidna who would rather be protecting the Master Emerald instead of here. He only agreed to come to this get together to get Sonic to shut up and get off his island.

"I'm sure the Master Emerald will still be there when you get back. Do you think we should go back in and help?" Amy asked, not happy that her time with her future husband was being cut short.

"It better be as it's a lot more important than them and their stupidity. I think we should leave it to them" was the reply she got from Knuckles. It did not help her mood.

"You would put that rock before two of your closest friends" she asked, folding her arms and looking annoyed.

"It is my sworn duty to protect the Master Emerald. You know that if someone like Eggman gets their hands on it we will all be in big trouble" Knuckles replied returning the arm folding and madden look at the pink hedgehog. "Personality I think Sonic has had this coming for years but why Tails chose to fight over a board game is beyond me".

"How could you be so cruel?" she shot back.

"Think what you want to." Amy looked like she was going to summon her deadly Piko Piko Hammer and beat her point into Knuckles but was interrupted by a cry from the younger Mobian in their presence.

"Please, no more fighting" exclaimed the cream coloured rabbit. She had brown eyes and the big ears that were well associated with her species. Her orange dress with a blue ribbon like design near the top matched her orange and yellow shoes. This was the overly polite Cream the Rabbit. In her hands was Cheese, who was a little blue creature known as a chao who wore a red bow tie to make him more recognisable that other chaos. He made a chao noise sadly afterwards as if to help back up her point.

The older female's face softened. "I'm sorry Cream, I know that this may look bad and I'm not making it better" she apologised. Her friendship with Cream was almost parallel of that of Sonic and Tails so it was safe to say that Amy was her best friend but she valued each and every one of her friends so to see and argument this big between two of her friends that normally got along well was a little distressing.

"How could this happen?" the rabbit asked, trying to understand just how this scenario came about. This got the other two Mobians thinking about the night they had just gone thought.

"I was surprised that Sonic agreed to play DVD Cluedo" Knuckles said. "He's not well known for thinking. I guessed Tails was going to win".

"Although you're wrong about Sonic as he is not dumb, I properly would have guessed Tails would have won as well" Amy admitted, seeing the echidna's hidden insult.

"Tails would never cheat" Cream added, "so why did Mister Sonic say he did?"

"He didn't mean it" the hedgehog explained. "Sonic just doesn't like losing, especially that badly. I love him with all my heart but that detective work was similar to the Chaotix on a bad day".

"True. But why did he show everyone those pictures of Tails when he was younger?" the rabbit enquired again. "Didn't he know that Tails was embarrassed by them?"

"He knew" the Master Emerald guardian said bluntly.

"Then why?" Cream's innocent mind couldn't understand why Sonic, the person who had saved her and the world many times, would do something so mean to the one he called his little brother.

"Well..." Amy started but couldn't figure out how to explain it to the six year old. Before she could though the echidna took it upon himself to open the rabbit's eyes to the 'truth'.

"Sonic didn't want to be shown up by Tails so in order to show that he holds the most power in their relationship he decide to make Tails feel... bad as would you say".

"That's awful. What should we do Amy?"

"I don't know" she said after thinking about. She closed her eyes and looked down in order to prove what she was feeling. "Tails must have been holding this in for a long time for him to explode like this."

"Like I said before, I'm saying out of it and I suggest you do the same" Knuckles said before he started to walk off. "I'm going back to Angel Island. I suggested this meeting to be tonight so that in case Sonic did something stupid and I wasn't able to be given a lift back, Angel Island would be close enough to Red Mountain for me to climb back on." And with that he dashed off towards the mountain to once again protect the Master Emerald.

"He's right, for once" Amy said cause Cream to snap her head towards the speaker of that statement in surprise.

"Really Amy?" she asked. It was not like her best friend to agree with Knuckles especially on a topic like this. Cream expect Amy to burst in there and force them to stop but to leave them to settle the argument by themselves didn't seem right.

"They need to do this. Sonic and Tails need to get this off their chests and afterwards their friendship will be stronger than ever" she said, her mouth showing a reassuring smile.

"Really?"

"Really. Come on, I'll walk you home" she said and after agreeing, the pair started to walk towards the train station. Although they seemed happy both of them were still worried about the feuding brother, the shouting having become less frequent but still there. The same though was running through their heads.

"_Please let them make up soon_".

* * *

><p>The blue hedgehog with green eyes and famed red and white sneakers plodded down on the sofa. It hadn't been a good night for him. He wasn't doing that well at Tails' new board game so half jokingly he said Tails cheated although his little brother had figured out the case so quickly that he wouldn't have been surprised if it was true. Must like he would of, Tails bragged which he would normally been okay with but he had been feeling stressed. He may make it look easy but the life on Sonic the Hedgehog was anything but. Fighting robots, avoiding Amy, stopping Eggman, bugging Knuckles, keeping the world safe, acting like a good role model for Tails, it wasn't easy but he made it through.<p>

Recently though life had been a little tougher than normal. Turning into a werehog and fixing the world after it was broken by an evil deity would do that to you. But what concerned him was losing Chip. The little imp had stuck to him like glue during the Dark Gaia incident and naturally they bonded so when he stayed in the earth's core it hurt. Sure he had the bracelet that Chip had left him but it was no replacement for his lost friend. This feeling had been causing him to have some weird dreams about him dying and some red head human, it was hazy but it was so clear it was like a memory he never had but it didn't make sense. He had never met a human with red hair and he was pretty sure that he hadn't died. Something about that made him think about Shadow and Silver but aside from that he had no clue and that really annoyed him.

Then there was something that he would admit to anybody, at times not even himself. Tails was growing up and needed him less and less and although he knew that the kit could look after himself just fine, the thought of being needed scared the blue hedgehog. He liked being needed and wanted by his little bro and worried if they would drift apart when they got older; after all they were very different people.

And then there was the flipside of that problem, being need too much. Sonic cherished the time he spent with Tails while they were saving the wisps from Eggman's theme park in space but not only did he have to keep the wisps safe but also the kit while he was working on the translator. Things went well, even when he had to push Tails in the lift so he could fight the Egg Nega Wisp without him being hurt but a nightmare of his ended up becoming a temporary reality when Eggman used his laser to control Tails and turn him against the blue hedgehog. Thankfully the laser ran out of juice before any real fighting could take place but it still made his heart sink when it happened. Yep, it wasn't easy being Sonic.

So Sonic kind of snapped and showed everyone some pictures he had of Tails when he was younger in order to get back at him, after all half of the reason he had taken them and kept them over the years was so he could use them to embarrass his younger bro. He didn't mean any harm but then the usually mild mannered kit sort of blew up, shouting about how he always has to win and that he just couldn't be happy for him. Maybe he felt underappreciated but then again so was he in the big brother department. Maybe trying to tell the kit to go to his room and cool off wasn't the best idea but now Tails was doing just that although he said it was because he wanted to, not because Sonic told him to do so. He had seen Amy, Cream and Knuckles leave and tomorrow he would say that he was sorry they had to see that, Tails was going to like it or not.

Speaking of his two tailed friend, all movement upstairs had stopped. Since he was the older one the blue speedster decided that he should be the bigger one and headed upstairs only to that the door to Tails' room was closed and the light inside turned off.

"_Maybe he's asleep_" the hedgehog thought as he opened the door slightly and saw his little bro asleep in bed. The orange fox's blue eyes were currently close and a bit damp which told Sonic that he may have been crying before he nodded off. The fact that his own red and white sneakers were on the floor beside the bed meant that he had no intention of coming back down tonight. Tails was sleep on his side, facing the window which caused his three bangs to become scrunched up against the pillow. Sonic sat down on the bed next to him which caused the kit to wince a little. At first speedster thought he had accidentally sat on one of his brother's two fluffy Tails that he uses to fly and keep up with his unbelievable speed but couldn't feel anything so assumed that the kit maybe having a bad dream. He naturally rubbed Tails' back.

"I'm sorry" he said quietly as not to wake him. "I didn't know that you had been feeling this way. You can talk to me; I'm your big bro. But that doesn't make what I did right so I'm sorry about that. It wasn't right of me to show those pictures and I was kidding when I said you cheated. I was certainly never going to win that game".

He sighed and noticed the kit shiver a little and went over to the window and closed it. While he was doing that he noticed the sky was packed with stars and the moon was shining brightly. That was one of the things that he loved about this place, the lack of light pollution made it a great place to star gaze. It was always a breathtaking sight and it never failed to calm him down.

"You know better than anyone all the things that I have to go through. You know, you've fought Eggman and you know how everyone is. But it difficult being a big brother; there's a lot to do but you make it so much easier by being the best little brother I could wish for". He turned to leave but before he did he spoke again. "If you can hear me, just know that I would never hurt you and that I'm so sorry". With that off his chest he left the room and closed the door gently behind him before he headed down stairs and turned on the TV, hoping that something funny was on.

After the door had closed Tails opened his eyes. He had heard Sonic coming up so he decided to pretend to me asleep. He didn't know if he was meant to hear what the blue hedgehog was saying but he did get the impression that his older brother was genuinely sorry for all the pain he had caused.

"_I know he doesn't mean to hurt me but he can be so thoughtless at times"_ he thought. He moved over to the window to look at the stars just as his big brother had done. "_I know how hard it is to keep the world safe and dealing with everyone can be kinda stressful, I'll admit that. But is it really that hard to be the older brother_?" he wondered. At times Tails felt like the older one, having to keep Sonic in line but how hard was it really? "_Sonic makes it look easy so it can't be that hard. I bet I could do it better_" he continued thinking.

It was at this point that the two tailed mechanic noticed a shooting star in the sky. "_Wow, you don't see that everyday_" he mentally exclaimed. He then remembered that wishing on a shooting star can make that wish come true. Part of him felt stupid wishing a star but he could see that harm in trying it. He bowed his head, closed his eyes and put his hands together like he was praying.

"_Shooting star, I wish that I had a chance to be the big brother_". He opened his eyes and stared to feel tired. "_I'll apologise in the morning_" he thought before getting back in to bed. The only thing he could hear was the TV which made him think about his older brother. "_What are the odds that my wish will come true? Not very high I imagine. Oh well_."

He closed his eyes and started drifting off. His had one last thought before he fell in asleep.

"_Good night Sonic_."


	2. Careful what you wish for

**Big Brother**

**Chapter 2: Careful What You Wish For**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

Due to his neglect to close the curtains Tails was up earlier than normal with the sun disrupting his peaceful slumber. He felt refreshed which was good as he had decided to make up with Sonic this morning. The hedgehog wasn't really a morning person so there was a good chance that he was still asleep however the television was on so maybe his big bro was up already. He looked into the hedgehog's room only to find that his bed looked untouched.

"_Maybe he dosed off while watching TV_?" the kit concluded. Not wanting to make Sonic up and put him in a bad mood (as that would make apologising a lot harder) Tails decided to freshen up first. After having a wash, cleaning his teeth and putting on a new pair of socks and gloves Tails still couldn't hear that Sonic was up but since he no longer had any way to put off going down stairs he chanced it.

He moved down the stairs carefully. He was tempted to fly down but the noise of his tails cutting the air was just as loud as any creaking stairs. He couldn't see his big brother yet which surprised Tails as all the other times the blue hedgehog had slept on the sofa he had sprawled out so much that the two tailed fox had to once stop him from falling off. Another thing that struck the kit as odd was the channel that was on, Cartoon Network. Neither one of them openly watched cartoons; he did when no one was around because he thought it was childish but this was a bit careless of the older Mobian, perhaps he was watching adult swim. There were some animes they didn't mind but this was a little suspicious for his taste. He crept towards the sofa and gasped at what he saw.

Tails was expecting to his fifteen year old older brother on the sofa but instead found a younger hedgehog, even younger than himself who looked just like a little version of Sonic. Blue quills, peach muzzle and belly and a smaller version of Sonic's signature red sneakers with the white strap down the middle. Even the buckle was the same.

"Sonic! Sonic, wake up!" Tails exclaimed, rattling the hedgehog to get him awake. Sonic opened his eyes but then retreated a little and looked sad.

"Morning Tails" he said quietly in a higher voice than Tails was used to.

"Sonic, what happened to you?" Tails asked, not being able to comprehend what happened to his older brother.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm not allowed to watch late night TV or stay up 'til the time I did" Sonic replied.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about? I mean your age" Tails said, starting to panic a little.

"Is this a trick or something as I'm not getting it" the young hedgehog said confused. "I'm five years old".

"Don't you see anything wrong with that?" the kit worried. "_How could he not notice that this isn't like it is supposed to be? Is this Eggman's doing_?" he mentally wondered.

Sonic looked even sadder than what he did before. "I can't grow up overnight big bro. I need to wait for my birthday for that".

That's when it hit him; Sonic had called him his big brother and was acting like this was normal. Was it his wish that caused the blue hedgehog to regress? If it was then this was not what he wanted.

"Sonic, what happened last night?" the two tailed fox asked more calmly, seeing if what he remembered matched up with what his now younger brother did. The blue hedgehog sighed and started his explanation.

"I saw some of the cards and tried to cheat but I still lost to you so I thought you had cheated but said I'd cheated so you shouted at me for shouting and then I'd said that you never let me do what want because you're mean but you said that I was kid and that you need to stop me". Sonic's breath ran out so he took another deep breath and started again. "Knuckles, Amy and Cream left so I thought you had made them go away but you said it was because of me and then you stomped upstairs and said that at times you wished you had never met me so I stayed down here and watched TV but fell asleep".

Upon closer inspection now that the initial shock had left his system Tails saw that the young hedgehog had silver trails running down his cheeks, indicating that he had been crying over his last comment. But he didn't say that. Tails remembered his big brother embarrassing him with some pictures that he didn't know he had.

"_Have I changed reality just by wishing_?" the kit thought. "_Should I tell him what happened to see if has those memories_?" This thought was removed from his head when he glanced over at Sonic. His eyes were starting to fill up with tears. Obviously he was still hurting from that comment 'he' made and he couldn't blame him; if his older brother said that about him he would be crushed as well. Thinking off his Sonic made him feel down.

"_Will I ever see my Sonic again_?" he wondered, thinking about everything his big bro had done for him. Comforting him when he was sad, going for pieces that he needed for his projects that had accidently forgot, being there if something was on his mind and course saving him from Eggman all the times he had been kidnapped. The thought of not seeing him again caused Tails' eyes to fill up but he forced it back down.

"_No, Sonic wouldn't cry. He would be strong for me. Now I need to strong for my little brother_" he thought. He sat next to the whimpering hedgehog who was desperately trying to hide his tears from the kit. "_I'm sorry. I was angry at something and I unfairly decided to take it out on you_" he explained, remembering the last thing he older Sonic said to him.

The little hedgehog was rubbing his eyes, not looking at the older Mobian. "It's okay, I'm fine" he said, trying to look tough but it clearly was not working.

"No, it's not. I hurt you really badly and I'm so sorry. I would never do anything to hurt you, you know that right?" Tails said in a really apologetic tone. Sonic turned to look at now older Mobian, his big green eyes meeting the fox's blue ones.

"Do you still wish that we had never met?" he asked, needing confirmation that his older brother still liked him after last night.

"No, of course not. I can't imagine life without you" Tails replied and pulled Sonic into a hug. "I never should have said that. I can't apologise enough." The hedgehog returned the hug almost instantly, proving that he accepted his apology.

"I can't think of never meeting you" he said, his voice oozing with innocence. The only noise that could be heard was Sonic's snivelling but he tried to stop but to no avail. The kit was still thinking about his current predicament.

"_How could his version of me say something so cruel? Was cheating really that big of a deal? I don't approve of it, that's for sure, but for that to turn into something like this he must really stressed_" he thought, turning his attention to his former big brother who was now wiping his eyes with one of his namesakes. "_I must admit though being the person who needs to feel better is easier than actually cheering someone up. But being the older one doesn't seem as hard as what Sonic made me think it was_."

His trail of thought was cut off by the sound of a stomach rumbling. Sonic was holding his tummy and smiling sheepishly indicating that it was his stomach who cried for attention. "We haven't had breakfast yet, have we?" Tails said standing up. "You wash your face and I'll start making it".

"Can we have chilli dogs?" the youngster asked. Tails though he was kidding but the innocent look on his face showed that he meant it.

"Okay, but just this once because we fell out" the kit said. "But you still need to wash your face though" and the next thing he knew the hedgehog was gone with only a trail of dust leading upstairs. He headed into the kitchen but went straight towards the towel by the sink and dried off the parts of his chest and tail that Sonic had cried into. It had annoyed him as being a fox with lots of fur being wet at all was uncomfortable but only having a part of you wet was worse still, especially as went his fur got dry it sort of puffed up. This is exactly what happened this time but with only the fur on his chest and one of his tails doing that. As he was flattening out the fur while making a mental note to buy tissues the next time he past a shop he thought he heard snickering only to find that it was Sonic.

"What'cha doing bro?" he asked, trying and failing to keep a straight face. If this was some kind of animation Tails could see himself with an anger mark on the back of his head.

"Ha ha, very funny" he muttered to himself. Even when he was the youngest inhabitant the fox was always careful not to let his blue brother spot him after he had a bath or shower or else he would never hear the end of it. But now he had the power which came with being the older sibling.

"I guess someone doesn't want any chilidogs" he said, finished with his current task and started getting the various ingredients needed to make his brother's favourite food. "It's a shame since I was going to make them just the way you like them. But I'll have to eat them all." He glanced over at the blue hedgehog and almost broke his semi-serious demeanour when he saw the kid's face fall.

"You wouldn't" he said, heartbroken. He looked to see if his big brother was joking but couldn't find any hint of it.

Tails kept preparing the food. "I would" he said in a matter-of-fact tone, not even looking at his now little brother. The kit knew how to cook and look after himself since his only 'family' was only around when he felt like it but that was only after he had been taught all the skills that he needed, some by Sonic but he had also been taught by Amy and Vanilla.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" the blue hedgehog cried out after a couple of minutes of silence. "I'll be good. Just please let me have some chilli dogs" he added quickly, getting on his knees showing that he was begging him.

"_Some things never change_" he though, deciding to end the charade. "Okay, you can eat. They're not quite ready yet so just watch some TV until there done."

A few minutes later the food was ready and Sonic would have dug in before the chilidogs were served but being the older one Tails stopped him until everything was ready. And by ready he meant in the living room. Although he was neater than the blue hero, some of Sonic's less proud traits had rubbed off on him, one of them being table manners around him. He always used his table manners when out in public or when eating with someone who valued their importance (mainly Amy and Cream) but if they weren't there then he wouldn't go out of his way to use them. That was why they were eating in front of the TV.

While the blue hedgehog was happily watching a cartoon about two human boys with odd hair colours building large inventions at impossibly fast speeds in order to make the best day ever (Tails recognised the band who did the opening song as a group his Sonic liked), the kit was once again lost in his thoughts while eating his unhealthy breakfast.

"_I still can't understand how this could have happened. The only things that I know that have the power to alter reality are the Chaos Emeralds but we don't have any here_." He glanced over at his new younger brother still glued to the TV. "_Is this how my Sonic was at that age? Wish I could've seen it, guess I am_." His thoughts turned to the past. "_Does this mean the past has changed as well? I need to talk to our friends, maybe they could help. Besides, we need to apologise for our behaviour_."

"Sonic," Tails finally spoke getting the kid's attention, "we're going to see Amy, Cream and Knuckles after breakfast."

"Cool" he said happily because he asked "why?"

"It wasn't right of us to drag them into our problems. We should have sorted out ourselves but instead we ruined what could have been a nice night so we need to apologise to them" the fox explained.

Sonic thought for a moment. "Does this mean that we should fight Eggman by ourselves then?" he asked causing Tails' to give him a look which said 'why would you think that?' "Don't we have to solve our problems without everyone's help?"

"No, saving the world is everyone's problem..." Tails started but was cut off by Sonic.

"So everyone in the world should join in and help?"

"Not everyone can help like we can. There are many people who what to help defend Mobius but they can't as they're normal."

"And we're not normal?" Sonic asked with big eyes, obviously fearing the worst of that statement. It was a lesson that Tails learnt the hard way and if it hadn't been for Sonic he may have ended up work with Eggman to get revenge.

"_How do I explain this to him_?" the two-tailed Mobian wondered before he spoke. "We're special. How many people you know who can run at your speeds or have two tails?" He noticed that the speedster was going to say something. "Let me finish. We can and want to help keep the world and everyone on it safe from Dr. Eggman and we don't want anyone to get hurt, do we?"

"No one but Egg-butt" he replied in childish tone that reminded the mechanic of how the teenaged Sonic would have answered.

"I meant our more personal problems. I'm sure we worried Amy and Cream so we should tell them we've made up."

"Okay, can we go now?"

"Just need to put the plate in the kitchen" he replied. "_That was exhausting_," Tails thought to himself, "_that's a very delicate subject and its hard enough to remind myself of that at times, let alone someone younger than me. I don't know you made this look so easy over the years Sonic but I promise I'll try my best to be the kind of brother you were to me so I could one for ... you_." He grabbed his head. "_Why is this so much harder than upgrading the Tornado_?"

"Are you okay big bro?" Sonic asked, seeing what was keeping the older Mobian.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that, I was just thinking about something" he said. "Ready to go to Cream's first?"

"Sure" the young hedgehog exclaimed before he rushed out of house leaving the fox to follow him and lock up. "Can we race there?" he asked.

He and Sonic never went anywhere on foot, they raced even though if Sonic ever went at his true speed it would be impossible for him to win. He was capable of keeping up with the fastest thing alive but defeating him in a race when he wanted to win was impossible. Although the hedgehog did occasionally let him win, more so when he was younger but he still did from time to time to cheer him up.

"Sure, why not" he said without really thinking about it. The brothers crouched down and got into an athletic running start potion.

"Ready, set..." Tails started. What the fox overlooked was the fact that when Sonic was the older Mobian he adjusted his speed to suit Tails, but now that he was only five years older the blue speedster would not have the consideration.

"...go!" It was a mistake that Miles Prower, mechanical boy genius, only realised when he heard the sonic boom and a blue blur race past him.


	3. The way things are

**Big Brother**

**Chapter 3: The Way Things are**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

"Oh no, what have I done" Tails grimaced out loud. His tails were spinning like a helicopter's propellers, boosting him to speeds he could not achieve on foot alone; except if you're Sonic the Hedgehog. The young hedgehog's speed was not as fast as Tails had seen the older Sonic run but even at that age it was still unbelievable. Putting the speed decrease down to undeveloped muscles, the kit chased after the hedgehog through the countryside.

Thankfully for Sonic the first person they were going to visit was Cream as she would be the one who worried the most about that argument. The rabbit was not a fan of violence and only fought against people who she thought really deserved it or to defend someone that she cared about. To his knowledge, the only other time Cream fought was either for training (which was really rare) or when Amy forces her to boxercize with her (not that he would tell either Amy or Cream that he knew that). The good news was that Cream lived out in the country so there would be very little danger of Sonic being hit by a vehicle but at the same time it gave the hedgehog no reason to slow down. If they were visiting Amy's apartment in Station Square, it would be a different story and they would need the Tornado to reach Angel Island.

"_Okay, I can do this_" Tails thought. "_All I have to do is get close enough to him to tell him to slow down_." With that he sped up, decreasing the gap between himself and his brother.

Sonic noticed this though. "_No, I'm going to win_" he thought. "_I didn't want to have to do this but I don't wanna lose." _He started speeding up and a blue aura, a light shade that his fur, started to form in front of him. "_This'll be great. I'll show Tails that he may be bigger but I'm faster_" he thought, a smile forming on his face. With a cry of "woo" he took off.

Tails' face dropped at this. "_He's using Sonic Boost! But how_?" he thought. "_Sonic only started using that move recently, so how could little Sonic be doing it_?" A light bulb went off in his head as he figured it out. For a guy who was incredibly laid back, Sonic often went training. He called it 'going for run' but Tails had once accidently saw him training after he came back from trip and realised what he was doing. No doubt there would be running involved at some point, it is Sonic, but it made no sense at the time why he did go out so often. Now he understood. "_Perhaps he could always use Sonic Boost but never wanted anybody to see it until he had fully mastered it_." A record starched inside his head. "_That means that this Sonic is nowhere near ready to use it like this. I have to stop him_."

The mechanic's with came soon that he thought as he heard a cry of pain in Sonic's voice and dashed to see what had happened. The little hedgehog was sitting at the far end of long trench of dug up earth, clutching his right leg. It only took a second to realise what happened.

"Sonic, are you there?" Tails asked a little worried. Sonic turned to face him, eyes starting to get a little watery.

"My leg hurts" he whimpered. When he was older sibling, Sonic always put on a brave face when Tails was around and when he was younger the kit believed him. When was older he could though his brother like he was glass as his eyes always told a story that Tails would make his older brother tell him if he didn't himself. Although Sonic used to find it annoying, he actually became a little grateful of this ability when Tails told him it was the reason he could recognise him in his werehog form. But to see him cry so openly was a little unnerving.

"What happened?" the fox asked, although judging at the forested area ahead he could take a guess.

"I tried to slow down for the woods but I tripped and fell and hurt my leg" the hedgehog explained. "It hurts" he moaned.

"Can you move it?" Tails asked. He was no good with injuries and wasn't fond of the sight of blood but he at least knew to check if it was broken. He doubted it but knowing Sonic, anything could happen. The little speedster rotated his foot and nodded. "Good, it's not broken, can you stand on it?" Sonic picked himself off the ground, wincing as he did but could put some weight on it. "Looks like you won't be running to Cream's" the older Mobian said, causing Sonic's face to fall.

"How're we gonna get there then" the blue hedgehog said dejectedly. Obviously this news did sit well with him.

"We're almost there. I don't want to turn around and get the Tornado" Tails said to both Sonic and himself. He would have liked to see if the new remote start-up system he was working on worked but he needed his Miles Electric to do that and he was so started by the shock of having a younger brother that he forgot to get it before he left. "I guess I'll have to give you a ride."

The young hedgehog's expression pick up immediately after hearing that. "Really?"

"Yeah, lift your arms up." Tails starting spinning his tails again, this time using the momentum to lift himself into the air and moved over all to Sonic who already had his arms up in the air. He grabbed the fox's hands and they ascended into the air after exchanging the mandatory "hold on tight" and "I will".

It was during the aerial portion of their journey that Tails realised another advantage of being the older one, it was a lot easier to carry Sonic like this. He remembered back in the Marble Garden Zone he carried Sonic during the fight against Eggman and was exhausted afterwards. It wasn't the Sonic was heavy but since he was older he weighed more than Tails could take for prolonged periods of time. It wasn't so bad now as Sonic often handled things by himself, leaving the kit to support him.

"Something up bro?" the little hedgehog asked, snapping the fox out of his mental trance who returned the question with a confused look. "You looked sad for moment."

The flying fox realised that thinking of the Sonic that he wished out of existence had depressed him a little and had displayed that facial expression without even thinking about.

"Sorry to worry you, I'm fine" Tails said, not wanting this conversation to continue. Sonic had other ideas.

"What were you thinking about that made you sad?" Sonic asked in an innocent way which forced the fox to repress an awh. "I don't like it when you sad."

Realising that he would have to tell him something, Tails planned his words. "I was thinking about a friend" he said quietly.

"Was it Shadow?" Sonic asked instantly.

"No, why would he make me sad?"

"'Cos he's always talking about Maria and that makes him sad." Tails had to admit, he did have a point.

"No, it wasn't him..." He was going to continue but his little brother stopped him.

"It is Knuckles?"

"No."

"Amy?"

"No."

"Cream?"

"No" Tails said firmly, hoping to end this list before the little speedster started pointing at random people they may fly over and ask if it was them. "It's someone you don't know."

Sonic's mouth opened in shock. "You have a friend that I don't know?"

"_Err, now what do I do_" the mechanic thought to himself. "_I don't really want to down-right lie but he asking so many questions. It'll be difficult to keep this from him at this rate_."

"Look, there's Cream's house" Sonic exclaimed, causing the older Mobian to mentally sigh in relief.

Cream and Cheese live in a little hut on the outskirts of Emerald town, out in the middle of the wilderness but close enough to go to town if they needed to. Cream was the only person Tails could think of with a living relative, her mother Vanilla. She was a kind mother who was the one to teach Cream all of her manners. Both fox and hedgehog had no doubt that she would be able to identify the extent of Sonic's pain, although neither of them expected it to be serious.

Landing and putting Sonic back on the ground (with a noticeable wince) the fox went up to the door and knocked on it with the little hedgehog hobbling along behind. The door was answered by Cream and Cheese, as to be expected.

"Hello Mr Tails, hello Sonic" she said in her usual harmless voice. "Are you two friends again now?"

"_Mr Tails, since when does she call me Mr Tails_?" the kit thought. Part of her politeness had Cream call people with authority mister which she does without fail. When she first met Sonic she called him "Mr Sonic" but he didn't like that and she promptly stopped. The mechanic had figured out that how she referred to people may be related to age. For example Knuckles, Shadow and Vector were all 'mister'; Amy was "Miss Amy" before they formed their sisterly bond while he and Charmy were just "Tails" and "Charmy". So it was that now he had been promoted to "Mr Tails". "_Maybe it's because I'm looking after Sonic_" he concluded between the thoughts "_shouldn't it be Mr Prower_?"

"Yep. Back to being bros for life, right Tails?" Sonic said with a happy grin on his face.

"Of course" the fox replied instantly.

"Good, because if you hadn't I was thinking about going over there and pounding the both of you until you made up" another familiar voice spoke up from the side of the door frame. The voice revealed itself to be Amy, obviously visiting Cream as well, who looked a bit mad but luckily for the brothers, hadn't reached the stage where she summoned her hammer and actually did pound them with it. She continued half shouting, "Cream was worried sick about you two, thinking that your friendship, your brotherhood was in trouble and...," she stopped for a second but continued in a quieter, more caring voice "...I was worried too."

The boys grimaced before they both put on an apologetic on their faces. "We're sorry" they both said simultaneously before Tails continued.

"We've made up now. I'm sorry that we made worry."

"Yeah" Sonic added before he perked up. "But now we're better than ever."He then found himself caught in a big hug from Amy.

"At least you're okay now. It seemed more serious than usual." She turned to Tails. "You're both just children and the only family you have is each other. I can't help but worry sometimes, even if you act older than you really are Tails."

"_I know that she thinks the world of Sonic, but I never knew that she cared about the two of us_" Tails thought. "Maybe our Amy doesn't..."

He thought were cut off by Sonic shouting "Help, cooties. Get off me Amy!" and Amy's response, "If only you were older, you'd be the perfect boyfriend."

"_...but it's nice to know that some things never change, even if reality does_" he mentally continued before noticing that Cream was standing next to him with a little hint of sadness in her expression. "Cream, I'm really sorry to make you worry." He had a soft spot for Cream, something that his older brother knew and sometimes teased him about, but only lightly as Tails often brought up Amy as a response. Besides, it's nice to know someone else who didn't have a hot head (he stopped counting the times he and Cream had to break up fights between Sonic, Amy and Knuckles).

"I was scared that you and Sonic would never be friends again" she said, her voice heavy with worry.

"No. Me and Sonic are always going to be brothers forever" he said in a very caring tone. "Don't you and Amy fall out?"

"Yes. But you both seemed so angry, it scared me a little. Can you promise me that you'll never fight like that again please?"

The fox sighed. "I wish I could but I can't. Everybody falls out sometimes. But I can promise that we will never stop being brothers. Will that do?"

The rabbit's face lit up immediately. "Yes. Thank you Tails".

"Ow, my leg."

"Sonic I'm so sorry."

The polite pair found their conversation interrupted by the hedgehogs. It seemed that Sonic's attempt to break out of Amy's iron grip had aggravated his injury.

"I didn't think I was hugging you that hard" Amy said half to Sonic and half to herself.

"It's not your fault" Sonic said between wincing. "I ran too fast on the way here and this happened when I tried to stop."

"It doesn't look too bad from here. Cream, can you get your mum?" Amy asked.

"Okay" the rabbit said with a nod of her head before she dashed inside, Cheese following her.

"Tails, where were you when this happened?" Amy asked sternly. Tails looked physically uncomfortable at this question. He opened his mouth to answer but Sonic beat him to it.

"We were racing here."

The female hedgehog went from firm to mad and marched up to the supposed older brother. "You were racing! We all know how that ends up, with you losing Sonic or Eggman comes and makes trouble while you're split up. That's why to set that no racing rule, remember?"

"_I made a rule like that_" the fox thought to himself. "_That sounds like a bad dream Sonic once had, although now I can understand why 'I' set that rule_."

"I expect this from Sonic, not you" Amy continued. "What were you thinking? You know Sonic's faster than you."

"I'm sorry" he fox said quietly before he tensed and closed his. After nothing happened for a second he opened them only to notice that Amy had a confused look on her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked, not having a clue what that was about.

"You're not going to hit me with your hammer?" he asked in surprised. Whenever Sonic did something to aggravate Amy it would end with the love struck hedgehog summoning her Piko Piko hammer, a rather large mallet with a yellow handle, yellow ends and a red middle to hold it all together. It didn't look very threatening but it could turn Eggman's basic robots into scrap easy enough and during any training session they had (although it wasn't very common as neither participate was willing to hurt the other) it did hurt.

"I don't do that to friends, except Knuckles at times" she replied. "Are you really feeling okay?"

Thankfully Tails was saved from having this question by the reappearance of Cream and Cheese, her mother Vanilla. It was easy to tell the family resemblance. Like Cream she had brown eyes and cream fur, alongside some brown hair between her ears. Her ears were around the same size as her daughter's, which made it clear just how long Cream's ears actually are. She wore a long dress which was mostly a light purple with a white rim. Over the top she wore a crimson waistcoat over the top of it and had matching heeled shoes that could be seen under the dress. Over the waist was a little orange scarf that he found out is called an ascot.

"Goodness, what's happened here" she exclaimed, Cream and Cheese by her side.

"My leg" the little blue hedgehog moaned.

"Bring him inside. It doesn't look too bad but I can't say for certain until I have a closer look". With that, Sonic found himself in the arms of his should-be admirer but she still wasn't happy with Tails.

"This is not over" she said in a quiet but serious tone, causing the speedster to shoot a confused look to his older brother only for it to be met with a really nervous smile.

Five minutes later the group were in the rabbit's living room with Vanilla having finished her examination of Sonic. The little hedgehog had a bag of ice on his leg while Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese were watching with their breath held.

"He'll be fine" the oldest Mobian in the room. "It's just a little bruising so he'll be fine tomorrow. Just don't run around today."

The news did not go down well the patient himself while everybody else let out a sigh of relief. "No running, that should be against the law. You can't let them do this Tails" Sonic panicked. "Tell them."

"It's better that you take it easy today Sonic" the kit replied, causing the youngest Mobian's face to fall further.

"No, not you too." He paused for a moment weighing his options. Realising that his big brother isn't going to help him and Cream wouldn't dare go against her mother, there is only one person who could help him now. "Amy, please. Tell them I'm fine. I'll go out with you when I'm older. I'll, ugh, marry you. Just please."

"Sonic, you can't say that..." Cream started before the pink hedgehog cut in.

"It's tempting..."

"Amy!" Tails said in disbelief.

"...but no. I don't want to see you hurt."

The blue hedgehog crossed his arms in an annoyed manner. "Hmph, fine."

"It's not so bad" Cream said in an attempt to cheer Sonic up. It was then that Tails felt someone grab his wrist and start pulling him into the next room. No guesses who it was.

"Tails, a word" Amy said in that special tone of hers that said "Disobey and die." The kit did the smart thing and went along with it.

As soon as the others out of sight Amy let go and folded her arms. "Is something going on with you? As you're not being yourself."

"_How should I be then_?" the two tailed mechanic wondered before replying. "I'm sorry. I must be more concerned about last night than I thought."

"Hmmm..." Amy was looking at him very suspiciously so it took all of the kit's mental energy to not crumble and tell her everything. "Okay, I'll believe you for now. But if there is anything you need to talk about just know that me and Cream are here for you."

"Thanks Amy" he said sincerely, the only part of this conversation which he had. Then another thought popped into his head. "Actually I could do with your help with something."

"Sure thing. What do you need?"

"I need your version of how you first met me and Sonic." This was his chance to see just how much of reality had changed. The only thing the kit worried about is whether he would like this or not.


	4. A mash of memories

**Big Brother**

**Chapter 4: A Mash of Memories**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

"I need your version of how you met me and Sonic."

"Sure. How come?" Thankfully Tails had expected this question from Amy and in preparation had come up with a valid reason for this request.

"I'm thinking of compiling a database of all of our adventures but of course the only accounts I can get anytime are Sonics and my own. That would make it seem like we were the only ones who did anything."

"To be fair, you two were the only ones to do anything about the Dark Gaia incident. I still feel bad that you kept turning into that feral form every night during that time while the only thing I did was help Professor Pickle. And I didn't even know about the aliens in that amusement park until after it happened."

"_We haven't even started yet and already things are different_" Tails thought. In his world Sonic became a werehog at night when Eggman split the world a part in order to release Dark Gaia, a powerful entity who is current sleeping under the planet's crust. Apparently he was the only person who could recognise him in that form, which did flatter him but the werehog scared him a little as well. The very thought of being scared of Sonic pained him but it all worked out in the end. "_I'll have to see if we have a picture of me in my nocturnal form_."

"But that was then" Amy continued. "Now, we first met when we all wanted to see Little Planet. I had used my tarot cards to predict that it would appear soon so I set off. I expected to be the only person there but when I arrived I saw you two. You said you were interested in how Little Planet travelled through time so that you may be able to harness that energy in order to create a time machine."

Tails had subconsciously started frowning when Amy started retelling her story since it had stirred up memories of how the story went in his reality. He never saw Little Planet the first time despite the fact that he'd wanted to. Sonic had dashed off to see it by himself which led to his third confrontation with Eggman, his first fight with Metal Sonic and Amy entering their lives. He was quite mad at Sonic then as well, so mad that he attempted to run away. That was why he ended up fighting the Battlekuku Army, less said about that the better. In the end, he went back to Sonic afterwards because he missed him and they made up. However he did see Little Planet later when Eggman made it the base of the Death Egg 2 but he never set foot upon it. History repeats itself. However, these unpleasant thoughts were cut off by the mentioning of a time machine.

"Too bad that didn't work out."

His face fell. "_Figures_" he muttered mentally. Thankfully his pink companion was too caught up in her retelling that she didn't notice this.

"Then Eggman arrived and chained Little Planet and corrupted it before our eyes. I was amazed at how the two of you dashed off to save the planet but I was worried that these two kids I just met would get hurt so I followed you but I was kidnapped by Metal Sonic and Metal Tails. Odd how they both looked older than the real deals."

"_A metal me_" the mechanic continued his mental rant. "_I never got a robot duplicate. We can't seem to rid of Metal Sonic and even Knuckles got a metal him for that racing tournament. The only fake I got was that creepy doll. Glad we never saw that again_."

"I was used as bait but Sonic saved me after defeating Metal Sonic" Amy continued, obliviously to the kit's interior monologue. "You tried to get him to leave because you got separated but he came after me and got me out safely while you collected the Time Stones, destroyed Metal Tails and made it so that Eggman was never there. We've been friends since."

It took a second for Tails to realise that Amy had stopped talking due to his ever increasing amount of thoughts. "Sorry, thinking. Thanks for that Amy, this will come in useful."

"No problem. Just let me know if you need my version of the other adventures. Are you sure you can remember all that?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." The entered the living room were Cream and Cheese were still trying to make Sonic stop complaining. They had got him to use his inside voice but now the hedgehog was on his feet, attempting to run. Not an easy task when you have a rabbit and a chao on you in an attempt to stop you.

The older hedgehog spoke first. "What's going on?"

"I was showing Cream and Cheese that I'm fine" the younger hedgehog replied. "But they won't let me."

"You shouldn't run Sonic. You'll hurt yourself again and then you won't be able to run for even longer."

The little speedster was going to retort but his older brother beat him to it. "She's right Sonic. What happens if you need a cast on your leg? You won't be able to walk, let alone run." Tails couldn't help but smile at his little brother's shocked face, it was exactly like the one the older Sonic made. "Speaking of moving, are you ready to go?"

"Leaving so soon?" Cream asked in a very polite way.

"Yeah, we need to go and see Knuckles" the fox explained. "Just to tell him that we're fine now."

"Okay, tell him I said hello."

"Tell him I say that hi as well" Amy chipped in. Tails then felt something brush up against one of his namesakes and found it to be Sonic.

"Big bro" he said in a needy voice, giving Tails the puppy dog look.

"Yes Sonic."

"'Cos I'm," he narrowed his eyes glared at the girls before going back to his cute act, "not allowed to run, can I get a ride?"

"Of course. I was thinking the same thing" he replied with a smile. A minute later and the brothers were in the air again while Amy, Cream and Cheese were at the door of the house waving them off.

"Bye."

"Good bye."

"Chao chao."

"See you later" the boys said in one voice.

Now that they were alone Sonic decided to enquire about a topic he couldn't stop thinking about. "Tails, what was that friend like?"

The kit looked puzzled about which friend his young charge was talking about. "Which friend? We have so many." For somebody who isn't known for his social skills, Tails did have a large amount of friends even though most of them he met through Sonic. The only person he could think of that he introduced the blue hedgehog to was Professor Pickle; although communication with their wisp friend Yacker would have been impossible without all of his hard work creating the translator (the fact that he perfected it but now has no chance to use it still annoyed him to this day).

"You know," the hedgehog replied, "the one I don't know. The one who made you said before."

"Oh yeah, that one" he said, trailing off towards the end. He had hoped that all the commotion of visiting Amy, Cream and Cheese had pushed that conversation out of his mind but then again this is still Sonic, even if he is now younger. The hedgehog is sharper than what most people think. Easy to tell where that common mistake comes from but most of their friend knew that to be a fact, even Knuckles and Shadow. "_But how to go about this_?" he wondered.

Sonic's trademark impatience was beginning to flare up. "Well?"

"Manners Sonic" the fox retorted, earning an apology from the little speedster. "This friend was quite special to me..." he started before Sonic spoke again.

"Like you are to me?"

"Yeah, like I am to you" he said with a smile before he added mentally "Exactly like I am to you."

"Was he a good guy?" Sonic asked, his voiced covered in sincerity.

"He was the nicest guy I knew, the coolest as well."

"Hey, what about me?"

"Okay then, he's the second coolest guy I know but back when I was your age he was the coolest." Tails then noticed that the line 'back when I was your age' works better if there's more than three years between you. "In fact, he helped make me the person I am today."

That was truthful at least. If Sonic hadn't come brightened up his world, most likely he'd still be a nervous wreck waiting for the bullying to stop. That's why the pair never returned to Emerald Hill, the only thing that could make them go back is an Eggman attack and even then it would have to be one of his bigger schemes.

"How come?"

"Well, he was role model, my hero. I looked up to him and he kept me safe. In fact he was like my older brother." An older brother who he regretted wishing out of existence.

"So he's your version of you?" The hedgehog scrunched up his face at what he just said. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean" Tails interjected, saving himself from a possibly long winded explanation. "Yeah, he was."

"Can I meet him?" the hedgehog asked.

"No."

"No? Why not? Does he not like me? I'm cool, he knows that right?"

"Sonic, it's not he doesn't want to meet you..."

The hedgehog jumped to another conclusion. "Then you don't want me to meet him. I'll be good, promise."

"You should be good anyway" the mechanic said, thinking he was losing control of the conversation as the hedgehog put on a sheepish smile which said a lot about what this reality's version of Tails had to put up with. "I want you to meet him but..." he trailed off. Personally he would want to see how Sonic would treat himself but of course that's impossible. All he needed now was a good excuse.

"Is he busy?" the hedgehog asked giving Tails his much needed idea. The blue hedgehog was always better at worming himself out of trouble than he was anyway.

"Yes, he's... travelling around the world which makes it hard to reach him."

"Oh, okay" Sonic said quickly in a happy tone before he started bouncing in the fox's grip. "Tails, we're here."

Never had their humble home looked so good to Tails. "_At least that conversation's over_" he mentally said with a sigh of relieve. The pair landed at the end of house closes to the cliff, in front of a garage door with Tails' logo on it. Retrieving the key from his tails (and mentally reminding himself to continue his research into subspace and hammer space) he opened the large door to be greeted by two biplanes, which left him confused. In the garage should be three planes: the Tornado mark 1, Sonic's red plane that he practically gave to Tails after seeing that he was better at piloting and maintaining it; the Tornado mark 2, Tails' blue pride and joy that he finished during the Chaos fiasco which could switch between a plane and a jet; but the Cyclone, another blue plane that could transform into battle amour which he used when Shadow first appeared, was nowhere in sight. He then sighed, remembering that everything he knew had now changed by wishing to change one little detail.

Expecting a happy reaction from his older brother as he gazed upon his planes, Sonic had to ask, "What's up bro?"

"Is this as many planes as I normally have?" the kit asked.

Sonic's expression turned into one of confusion. "Yeah, you only have two Tornados. Is something wrong with your head?"

"No its fine" Tails said dismissively. "What about the Cyclone?"

Sonic titled his head a little to the side. "Cyclone?"

"Yeah, that plane that transformed into the battle suit." Sonic's expression didn't change. "I used it to make you out of prison."

"I didn't go to prison. You say I'm too little."

A valid point. In this reality Sonic was indeed too young to go a normal jail, let alone facility like Prison Island. It would be his legal guardian that would be locked up but that was himself, and he's too young as well.

"What about when Shadow was first released?"

"When he was with Eggman? We went to stop him like always, but the whole island blew up. Don't you remember?"

"O-of course I do" Tails managed to stammer out. From that little Q and A the kit gathered that since Shadow is now a lot taller than Sonic that people didn't mix up the hedgehogs, but at the same time he didn't invent the Cyclone. He was wondering why he didn't when he felt someone grab his hand, only to find Sonic looking up at him, a hint of worry visible in his eyes.

"You're scaring me a bit bro" he spoke, reminding him of how Sonic would handle something like this back when he was the cool big brother. "You sometimes make stuff up to trick me or see if I'm still listening but it sounds like you think that stuff happened. You okay?"

Tails didn't answer as he wasn't sure if there was something with him or not. His latest talk with the little hedgehog had put another idea in his head. "_What if all my memories aren't real? I never thought of that way as they seemed so real but nothing here matches what I remember. Perhaps I hit my head and started believing a load of lies I made up to trick Sonic_."

"I don't know" he finally said with a sigh. His blue eyes met the hedgehog's green one. "I don't know what's real anymore. I don't know what I should keep in my memories and what I should forget."

"I don't get most of the things you think about but," for a second Tails saw the Sonic he knew, his fifteen year old brother who would giving him the shirt of his back if he wore one, "never forget me."

Tails grabbed the hand back. "I never would" he said and quickly turned his head has his eyes started to water, closing them so hedgehog wouldn't see.

"Whatever I did to make you cry I'm sorry but you have to stop" the hedgehog said, his voice going a little. The fox opened his eyes to find himself looking at the five year old hedgehog that he woke up with this morning, his eyes starting to fill. "You're gonna get me going, and we're gonna visit that old grouch after."

Assuming that the old grouch was Knuckles, Tails starting to reassure his little brother before they both ended overusing the waterworks. "You didn't do anything. I'm just happy that you tried to cheer me up and help me. Thank you Sonic, I'm feeling better now." And with that he bent down and gave the young speedster a warm embrace which was instantly returned.

"You're welcome, but if you're okay would you mind looking it. I'm getting confused" Sonic thought out loud before he perked up. "Knuckles doesn't have to know about this, right?"

The twin tailed Mobian broke out into a smile. "He won't hear a thing from me" he said before he went to the red plane. Since the mark 2 needed a Chaos Emerald to run at full speed and his emerald count was zero it made more sense to take the reliable mark 1. It was the reason why he rebuilt it after it was shot down by the Egg Carrier. His aviator's goggles were in the cockpit, which he decided to put on before starting the engine up.

After getting the plane outside the hanger and locking up he found the little Mobian standing on wings of the plane. This was usual behaviour back when reality was right, but Sonic was five. Surely that's dangerous (as opposed to the other Sonic doing it?) but now he was supposed to be resting his leg. "What do you think you're doing?" he said, mustering all the authority had had and crossing his arms.

The hedgehog mimicked the action. "I'm in my spot."

"Not this time. You should be resting that leg."

"Aw, come on Tails. I'm fine." In order to prove his point he started to break dance but at one point he popped up onto his feet which set his leg off again. "Ow! I mean I'm fine" he added quickly.

"Nice try."

"Oh" he said, reluctantly getting into the back seat. "You were nicer when your head was scrambled" he muttered to himself as Tails climbed into the cockpit.

"I heard that" the pilot said sharply without turning around, causing Sonic to flinch. Not another word was said as the plane started moving towards the cliff at a high speed, allowing it to take off before it reached the cliff edge.

"I just hope Knuckles has some good news for me" Tails thought has he turned the plane toward their destination, Angel Island.


	5. No end to chaos

**Big Brother**

**Chapter 5: No End to Chaos**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

Sonic was grumbling to himself about something in the back of the red biplane. If the pilot had to guess what the blue hedgehog was mad about he would it was related to his sore leg in some way, but then again if Tails had been a better guardian none of this would have happened. In fact he would go on to say that if he hadn't made that wish then he wouldn't be in this situation but there was nothing that could be done now, right?

Thankfully being above the clouds always made him feel better, and this time was no exception. The view of the calm, blue sky always put his soul at ease but since all those clouds often ruined his view the only place to really appreciate the view was in the sky itself. It also helped that fly the Tornado was second nature to him so he didn't really have to think about it and that he couldn't hear Sonic because of the wind. It was loud enough to block out any whispers but normal speech was unaffected.

"You okay?" Tails asked, not getting a response from the younger Mobian. "Is your leg feeling better?" he said in an attempt to start a conversation.

"It was always fine" Sonic replied back. "I could be on the wing like always."

"No you could not. Remember what happened when you danced on the wing." He could imagine Sonic's face falling at this comment. "I only do it because I care."

"Then this is that guy's fault then" the hedgehog snapped back, causing the fox to scrunch his face up in confusion.

"Which guy?"

Sonic sighed. "The guy who you grew up with. You were telling me about him earlier, or don't you remember that as well."

Tails sighed as well. "For your information I'm better now and I'm sorry that you had to see that."

The little hedgehog's moody demeanour faltered a little. "You should be, I was scared that you might... do something stupid."

The fox sighed, knowing what his little brother actually meant to say. "You mean like forget you?"

"Yeah" he sulked. "Without you, what would I do?"

Tails could relate to this. One of his personal fears when he was younger was that Sonic would abandon him or run off and forget him, and the only person other than him who knew about that was Sonic, the older one. While his other fears of lightening and ghosts were common knowledge this one he tried his best to keep a secret but his older brother figured it out but never told a soul. While he may be reckless, a little cocky and needs several lessons on tact, Sonic the Hedgehog was a really nice guy who never betrays the trust of his friends. At least, that's what he used to think before the whole picture fiasco.

"Don't worry, I won't leave you ever," he said out loud so the younger Mobian would feel better, but deep down he knew that it wouldn't be true. Soon he would find a way to put the world back to the way it was and Tails' hope currently lay with the Guardian of the Master Emerald. It was a hope that was slowly rising as Angel Island came closer.

Angel Island was a large, floating landmass which stayed in the air due to the power of the Master Emerald. This emerald kept the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds in check which to the group of heroes meant being able to stop the emeralds if they were being misused. The best example of this which sprung to Tails' mind was when the Master Emerald stopped the Chaos Emeralds from setting Space Colony Ark on a crash course with Mobius. Granted the emeralds power were used to actually save the day after some complications, but still it was powerful. So powerful that the race who guarded it, the echidnas, appointed someone to protect it. Whether that meant protecting the emerald from people who would misuse its power or protect people from the 'god' who resides in it, Chaos, remind to be seen.

Chaos wiped out half of the Knuckles clan of echidnas, will the Nocturnus clan were banished into another dimension meaning that the title of Guardian fell to the last echidna, Knuckles, although now that he thought about Shade could technically be a guardian if she wasn't off seeing the world.

As Knuckles was the only person who currently lived on the island it was important to land as close to his location as they could. Angel Island is a big place, so big that when the hedgehog and fox first arrived it took several days to get around it and stop Eggman's plan to revive the Death Egg and Tails didn't want to spend all day reaching Knuckles, especially with Sonic's leg. The echidna would be with the Master Emerald, not leaving it for long periods of time except if Eggman was causing major trouble or he needed a favour. The emerald shire was in a ruin not too far from Sky Sanctuary now, but it wasn't always there. Originally the emerald was in the Hidden Palace but the palace had been damaged thanks to skirmish between Sonic and Knuckles which Eggman ended up finishing. That caused him to move it to its current location but after he built it during the Chaos incident he moved it to a temple Knuckles had built just outside Marble Garden (Tails thought the Guardian moved there to be close to all the grape tress growing in that area) but he moved it back to where it was after the Ark stopped falling. Any attempts to ask why would be met with some mumblings about Rouge, no one except those two really understood.

The pair landed in their usual place, not too far from the Emerald's shine. It was a little runway that Knuckles had allowed Tails to build since the fox often did favours for the echidna so it made sense to have a place to land the Tornado nearby. Tails took his goggles off and grabbed Sonic before he could jump down and took off, the hedgehog moaning about giving him some warning before doing that. A minute later and the shine were in sight, with a red figure standing out from the green gem behind.

"Hey, grouch" the blue Mobian shouted, attracting the attention the red Mobian on the ground. Even from here Tails could see Knuckles sigh and frown, something that became more apparent as they landed.

"Hey Tails, Sonic" the older Mobian greeted them, saying Sonic's name in a deeper tone. "What brings to bring him up to my island?" This question was clearly aimed the fox but the younger Mobian who spoke first.

"We came to say sorry for last night. I can't believe I let myself look bad in front of you."

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. Tact was never Sonic's strong suit when he was fifteen but he never knew that he actually got better with age. It occurred to him that the more time he spent with little Sonic the more he felt sorry for the version of him everyone thinks he is.

The hedgehog's eyes half closed to show that his next statement was not something he personally didn't agree with. "We're also sorry for making you worry about us. You shouldn't have to see it and it's a personable problem" he said flatly.

Tails face palmed. "It's a personal person, Sonic."

"That's what I said."

"You said personable."

"What's that mean?" he asked, not really knowing the difference.

Knuckles took it upon himself to answer the hedgehog's question. "Polite and pleasant. You know, those things you aren't."

This caused the speedster the frown in return. "What was that?"

The Guardian ignored him and turned to Tails. "When are you going to teach the kid some manners?"

"I am not a kid!" Sonic was practically fuming.

"It's a working process" Tails replied, playing along with the echidnas taunts.

"Big bro, you're meant to be on my side" the hedgehog wined, causing Knuckles to grin. "Grrrr."

"Sonic, calm down. Knuckles, I think you should stop before someone gets hurt."

Knuckles grin disappeared, but his expression was still a positive one. "Okay, that's enough for one visit. While I appreciate you coming up here and apologising for that outburst it's not the only reason you came up here, is it? It's a little minor for the trip."

Sonic was shocked at this. "I almost lose my brother and to you that's not important."

"It wasn't that bad..." Tails started, only to be met by a dower expression on the speedster's face.

"Was to me."

The fox put an arm around the hedgehog. "I had no idea."

Knuckles cleared his throat, ruining the could-have-been emotional scene. "Is there anything I can help you with? If not, could you take this elsewhere."

It was the hedgehog's turn to grin. "I'm sorry we're stopping you from watching your rock."

Knuckles raised his fists showing that Sonic had finally crossed the line. "The Mater Emerald is not a rock" he roared. Before anything else Tails grabbed his wrist and dragged him down the stairs.

"Sonic, you stay here while I talk to Knuckles."

"Okay. " With that Sonic turned his attention to the only interesting in the area, the Master Emerald. He knew not to break it, the world had enough water without Chaos causing flooding. He was about to touch it but suddenly there was a shout.

"Do not touch the Master Emerald!"

Of course it was Knuckles. Sonic thought about defying him and then bolting but Tails' shout stopped him from doing so.

"Remember you're not allowed to run today."

Even at the bottom of the stairs his sigh was visible. "What's he done now?" Knuckles asked. From the way he said it Tails deduced that Sonic getting injured was a common occurrence.

"He stopped too quickly and hurt his leg. It's nothing serious but he has to rest it today."

"So you drag him out to Angel Island?"

"I gave him a ride here" the kit pointed out before continuing. "Actually, there is something else I wanted to talk to you about."

The Guardian crossed his arms. "Go on then."

However it took Tails several seconds to gather the courage to ask his question. "Do wishing on shooting stars work?"

Knuckles looked bewildered. "What makes you say that?" He would have thought the kit was joking if his expression wasn't so dower. "What's going on Tails?"

Despite his attempts to get rid of them when they first met him, Knuckles ended being a good friend to Tails. In fact when Sonic spent that time travelling the world he bonded with the echidna a bit, helping him create some new traps for the island. Although his big brother had nothing to worry about in the trust department the fox felt like if he couldn't tell Sonic something most often than not he could tell Knuckles. It was because of this that Tails ended up telling the Guardian everything: the other world, older Sonic, the fight, how reality changed, everything.

After the explanation Tails stood quietly, waiting for the older Mobian's response. His expression was unreadable making the kit nervous. After a minute of silence he spoke. "And your sure you didn't just make up a delusion and started to believe it?"

"I think so. Just as I started to believe that I saw my Sonic and he told me not to forget him. It was sign Knuckles, it all happened."

"But it just sounds so farfetched. I can't imagine Sonic being older than you, doing all the stuff you did. I really can't."

"I'm in the same position. Sonic's always been my older brother so this is..."

"Odd?"

"...different."

The echidna put his hand to his temples, a sign that all this talk of different realities was starting to give him a headache. The two tailed mechanic hopped Knuckles would end the conversation like he did went Tails explained how Extreme Gears float. "If he didn't want an answer he shouldn't have asked the question" Sonic had said afterwards and he had agreed with him.

"Okay, let say all that did actually happen and I don't have to take you to a clinic afterwards, it all happened because you wished upon a star?"

"_Sceptical as always_" Tails thought. Of course Knuckles wouldn't believe him, he thought Eggman was a good guy and himself and Sonic as villains at first. The only reason that changed was because Eggman stole the Master Emerald and Sonic helped get it back. Deciding to end his thoughts there, the fox replied "I know. I always thought it was some childish fantasy that someone like Disney made up, I never realised there could be some truth to it."

"Of course, all legends start somewhere. I remember when Babylon Garden was just a myth told by treasure hunters like myself but now I know it to be a space ship that once tried to end the word with a black hole. That belief on wishing on stars was around back before Chaos wiped out my ancestors."

That surprised Tails. "That long, really? How'd you know?"

"Tikal told me" he said in a matter-of-fact tone, only to be met by a look of confusion. "I wanted to know to more about the Knuckles clan after finding out so much about the Nocturnus and she's a good source of information."

"In that case perhaps I talked to the wrong echidna" he muttered but Knuckles heard.

"Hey, I know what I'm saying. It came up during one of our conversations and she said that if a desire is strong enough it can happen. You must've really been mad."

This caused the kit's face to fall and for his gaze to meet his shoes. "I guess."

That look of sadness and loss made Knuckles understand that Tails thought it was real, no trick, or maybe it was and everything he knew was some lie to make the fox learn a lesson. Either way, he had to help especially as no one else could. "Okay, listen. The only other reason it could of happened was to teach you a lesson of some sort." This caused the mechanic to look into Knuckles' eyes to see if he was lying to make him feel better. He wasn't.

"Really?"

"Must be that one. You know, walk a mile in someone else's shoes in this case."

"So you're telling me that my big brother no longer exists so I could walk a mile in his shoes. I... I..." At this point the mechanic broke down. He wished to know what it was like to the older sibling but at the cost of his own big brother just so he could learn. "What sort of person does that? I'm the worst little brother ever, forget about being the older one" he thought. "What if I don't get it and I never see you again Sonic? I could really need you now brother..." His trail of thoughts were interrupted when he felt something on his shoulder. Opening his eyes it turned out to one of Knuckles' hands.

"I have every faith that you can get through this. I don't know if what you told me is true but you're my friend so I'll have to take your word for it. What I do know is that something has happened and you need to see it through. You may've always counted on that other Sonic but you have people counting on you here. You need to be strong, for the little rugrat."

"How old do you think I am?" a shout interrupted the Guardian. No surprise it was Sonic who had dashed down as fast as he could without aggravating his leg when he saw Tails break down. He quickly reached them and went straight to Tails. "Big bro, what's wrong? Is it Knuckles? What'd he do? What'd he say?"

"Hey, I was just helping him with problem and it reached an emotional part it. I wouldn't purposely upset Tails, you on the other hand..."

"I'm fine Sonic" the fox said quickly before the little hedgehog could say anything. "Thanks for the advice Knuckles, I'll try it out." He turned to the speedster. "Ready to go?"

"Finally!" he exclaimed. "I was getting bored up there. See ya grump, enjoy your flying boringville." And with this he dashed towards the Tornado not realising that his big brother was not following him.

"Thanks for not telling him" Tails said.

"I'm more than double his age and have the ability to focus and even I find it confusing" he said, crossing his arms. "Have you told anyone else?"

"No, only you. Would you mind not telling the others? I don't know how they would react."

"Wise move. No problem, I'll keep your secret. If you want to talk to you where to find me, just get a babysitter for the kid before you come up." Knuckles didn't mind Tails, providing he didn't bore him with techno jargon. Sonic though was just too much though.

"Okay. Thanks Knuckles, I really appreciate it."

"Anytime."

"Hey, are you coming?" Sonic shouted through the foliage, not liking the fact that he had been kept waiting.

"Got to go" Tails said revving his namesakes and turning towards where the voice came from. "See ya later Knuckles." Then he left leaving the echidna by himself.

Turning, he started to head back towards the Master Emerald to see if Sonic had done anything to it. "_Poor kid. He had enough problems before all this. Evil geniuses, regular doomsday plots, looking after that brat are hard enough without only being eight. Now he's going insane as well_" he thought, realising that he had reached his precious jewel. He sighed, staring at the powerful gem. "_I don't know what you've gotten yourself in to but I wish you luck_." He noticed the Tornado's reflection in the Master Emerald as it took off and turned to see his allies leave, with it one last thought.

"_You may need it_."


	6. Similar yet different

**Big Brother**

**Chapter 6: Similar yet Different**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

"Why do you keep all this junk Tails?" Sonic asked his older brother who was surrounded by all of the clutter he had amassed over the years. A few souvenirs from the places he had visited, some old blueprints that he couldn't bring himself to throw away and what he was actually looking for, photos. Normally pictures of their adventures were rare with all the adventuring except if the media were around to see it (he had the headline of him saving Station Square from Eggman's missile in a frame in his work space), the one with Dark Gaia had been the exception.

In his memories he had served as transportation for Sonic and Chip, a little imp who was having some memory issues but turned out was the deity Light Gaia who was Dark Gaia's opposite. His friend Professor Pickle created a camera which could save people from Dark Gaia's influence which at that time only resulted with the affected having a complete personality change at night but according the professor would have become much worse if left unchecked. However, it still functioned as a camera so Chip was determined to chronicle the places and people they had met during that time. Seeing how this world worked Tails had theorised that the same must have happened in this reality which was perfect as he still wanted to see his own were-form.

"It's nice to know I have these" he said quickly as he finally found box he wanted, marked photos. Why it had been pushed to the back he didn't know, the first thought was that his other self could have pushed them to a part of the cupboard were he couldn't see them at first glance during his fit of anger.

"Why'd you want to find of picture of you like that? I thought you said you didn't like it?"

"Err..." The fox did not have an opinion on the matter as he had never gone through it although Sonic said that he originally hated it because it took away his speed but warmed to it towards the end. Now all he needed was a good excuse and thankfully he had. "It's for the database I'm working on. You know, the one I was talking to Amy and Knuckles about."

Needless to say the hedgehog had asked what he and the echidna had been talking about to cause his display of emotion and this was the only thing he could think of, so much so that he was thinking of actually creating it when he got back to reality, if he ever did.

"Oh, okay. That sounds boring" Sonic said. He was on the chair watching his older brother look for the picture while having a can of cola. The kit expected him to go off and do something else but had just been sitting there, watching him.

Tails scowled at this. Had he been so distracting when was that age. Then again, Sonic wouldn't have the patience to even attempt this sort of task. "If you're going to sit there and complain without helping, can't you watch TV or something?"

His young charge had a bored look on his face. "There's nothing on."

"Then can't you get some fresh air?"

"Got some earlier."

"A little more wouldn't hurt."

"Yes it would."

This confused the fox. "How would fresh air hurt you?"

The blue Mobian sighed, annoyed that his only family did not understand what he meant. "To get fresh air I would have to go outside and this place has lots of empty space which is perfect for running. If I got outside I would end up running and hurting my leg. So yeah, fresh air would hurt me."

"I guess that makes sense and I appreciate you being honest about that."

"But I'm so bored. Can't we do something?"

Tails was about to protest, saying that he had too much to do but memories of his big brother going for run quickly and being out when he needed him sprung to mind. "_I hated it when he did that and now I'm doing the exact same. Is this part of the lesson I'm meant to learning_?"

Tails was lost in his thoughts so Sonic decided to snap him out of it by poking him. "Big bro?"

"What? Sorry, just thinking. Sure, I just have some things to do first" he said with a smile. After another minute he found what he was looking for, a picture of the were-fox as the younger Mobian had named it. It looked like him, only with his fur becoming a little longer and a little untamed around his chest and tails. His shoes looked less bright than what they normally did and now had spikes on the soles which made him look taller. However the most noticeable features were his hands and mouth. He said hands put they were more claws now. They were bare and had grown with sharp nails to match. His mouth now had sharp fangs protruding out of it. Yep, he looked quite beastly.

He heard a little laugh come out his young charge. "What's so funny?"

"It funny that Amy couldn't tell it was you while I could. She was fuming after that" he said with a giggle. "The look on your face didn't change at all."

"Did I scare you?" he asked. In his reality Tails first saw Sonic in his werehog form after he saved him from some of Dark Gaia's minions and although he was worried about what his hero would do to him afterwards, as soon as he saw the eyes of his rescuer he knew it was Sonic and that he had nothing to fear. Of course, he was eight. This Sonic was younger when that happened.

The hedgehog scoffed at this question. "Scared of you? I'll never be scared of you...again" he added quietly quickly looking at his shoes. Next thing he knew he found himself in a fluffy embrace.

"I'm really sorry about that" Tails said. "You know I was just mad don't you?"

"Yeah I know. You said this morning" was the younger Mobian's reply. "Can we something now?"

"I need to put these things away first, but it would be quicker with someone to help me." Sonic didn't move. "You're helping me."

"Aw..."

As they put the wide assortment of objects back into the cupboard, Tails thought about the exchange he and Sonic just had and remember when his older brother commanded him to do stuff. It was more when he was younger as he was just as good as Sonic when it came to maintaining the house. "_It really is funny when you're the one in control_" he though while stopping himself from chuckling at the scowl on the hedgehog's face.

After the clutter was put back where no one could see it the brothers decided to play cards until something entertaining did appear on the TV, allowing Tails some time to think about his current situation in the only place where he could get some quiet, his lab in the basement.

Not originally part of the design it took Sonic several days pestering Knuckles to actually get him to dig the cave which Tails then reinforced with metal so the house didn't sink. Since then the kit did all his planning and inventing down here, as well as any repairs and upgrades for the Tornado as well. However its main use was just a place to get away from the outside world, something he really needed to do today. At least his sanctuary hadn't changed like everything else in the world.

Getting a piece of paper and pencil Tails decided to try and make some sense of the day. "_Okay, I wish on a star to be the big brother and when I woke up Sonic was five. It wouldn't be so bad but I'm the only one who knows any different, everyone else thinks this is normal and Knuckles thinks I'm losing my mind. I'll admit that for a moment I thought so too but when I saw my Sonic I know that what I know is right. Knuckles thinks I'm supposed to be learning some sort of lesson but what? Being a good big brother? How to be a big brother_?" His thoughts were starting to give him a headache, causing him to rest his head in his hands. "_All I know that it has something to do with my new job_." He sighed. "_I've seen countless robots all created by one person, a water monster destroy a city, the ultimate life form, people from another world and the future, my best friend transform into a monster and an amusement park in space. My best friend breaks the laws of physics when he's bored, I can fly. My life is not normal but I got though it all, why is this giving me so much trouble. What could I possibly be learning from having everything I know turned upside down like this_?"

He didn't know how long he sat there attempting to find solution for this puzzle while thinking that finding magic emeralds and upgrading the Tornado was easy in comparison. In fact he was oblivious to the world until he heard a very large crash coming from right next to him, causing him to physically jump. If that wasn't bad enough the shout afterwards caused his heart to stop.

"MILES PROWER!"

"Amy, what are you doing here?"

Yes, it was Amy who was fuming for some reason. The crash was actually her slamming her hammer on the ground, leaving quite a nasty dent in the floor which the mechanic knew he would have to fix afterwards. Before he had the chance to do anything the hedgehog grabbed his wrist tightly and started dragging him upstairs.

"Amy, what're you doing?"

"Do you know how long you've been down here?"

"No."

"Long enough for this to happen."

They had arrived in the kitchen which was now in a state of disarray. There was mess everywhere, on the counters, the cooker, the cupboards, the table, even the ceiling. The next thing the fox noticed was Cream and Cheese who were both holding cloths, trying to clean up a blotch of red liquid. After that he saw the culprit, Sonic. The little hedgehog was covered in yellow, brown and red making it difficult to tell what colour he was meant to be. His gloves were in a state and his shoes were going to need a scrub.

"Sonic what did you do?" the kit exclaimed.

The hedgehog smiled sheepishly. "I was hungry so I try to make PB and J but it sort went a little wrong."

Not a good answer for situation. "A little wrong. Sonic, there's peanut butter, jam and what I can only think is butter on the ceiling! How do you explain that?" Tails felt ready to explode when the only thing his brother did was shrug his shoulders but Amy beat him to it.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, this is one of the worst messes I've ever seen. And I've seen Station Square destroyed and the world split" she shout. The fox could see Cream and Cheese flinch at this.

"Sorry, I was just hungry. I didn't mean to" the blue hedgehog defended himself.

"You shouldn't have been allowed to make this mess" she said turning her glare to Tails. "Why weren't you with him? What were you doing down there which was so important?"

The kit shuffled uncomfortably. "I was thinking of... some upgrades to the Tornado" he said quickly after thinking of a reason and noticing that he was getting better a lying.

"Upgrades, UPGRADES. You haven't been doing a good job of looking after your little brother today Tails. First his leg, now this, you really need to get your act together."

This shot through the kit who was trying to hold back tears but his eyes still filled up a little. The pink hedgehog turned to Sonic again.

"Of course if you had got him Sonic this never would have happened."

"I tried" he shot back. "He never noticed me and he said that I shouldn't pull on his tails or through water at him after last time."

Amy was now trembling with anger and before anyone knew she summoned her Piko Piko hammer and raised it above her head. "Why I ought 'a..." The boy hugged each other out of fear and closed their eyes but no impact came and they soon found out why. Cream and Cheese had gotten in the way.

"Amy, please. I don't like this mess either but this isn't going to help anyone" the rabbit said sadly, followed by a few "chao" noises from Cheese. "I understand you're angry but instead of hurting them can't you use that energy to clean?" After not moving for a second Amy put away her hammer, grabbed a damp cloth and started to wipe down the counters.

"Thanks Cream" the boys said at the same time.

"You're welcome, but please try not to let this happen again" she said before she turned to cleaning. Tails then turned to Sonic.

"Sonic..." he spoke before the younger Mobian interrupted.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I really tried not to make a mess but..." he trailed off, not knowing how to phrase it so he started with a new topic. "I kept the straps of my shoes clean so I don't have to wash them, right?" he said with a hopeful voice.

Tails understood the hedgehog's logic. No matter how old he was Sonic never felt comfortable without his signature sneakers on. The only times he didn't wear them was when he was wearing a his spare pair while he tinkered with his original one during the Ark fiasco, when he was racing on Extreme Gear when he wears shoes with more grip or when he's washing or sleeping. "No, we won't have to wash the shoes but you're going to need a bath."

"Now?" Sonic asked shocked. "But there are people here and they can't see me with nothing on."

If he had said that to anyone else it would sound stupid. Sonic the Hedgehog, whose only attire was shoes, socks and gloves was showing modesty? However his older brother understood that feeling completely. Despite what people thought Mobians do have some modesty, some more so than others and mainly females but they did.

"Okay, after they go. For now start cleaning your shoes." He didn't want Sonic to make more of a mess while trying to help. The hedgehog dashed to get a cloth and started scrubbing his shoes while Tails helped the girls. Five minutes later and the kitchen was gleaming. As they turned to leave Amy said for the first time since she attempt to smashed the pair of brothers.

"I came over to see if Sonic was alright. Maybe I should check up on you more" she said before walking out the door with a huff. The rabbit and chao gave each other a worried glance before they followed, given the boys a wave as they left.

The boys let out a sigh of relief, both expecting Amy to do something drastic. "Okay, now its bath time" the fox said, receiving a moan from the hedgehog.

Tails was never a big fan of baths when he was younger, his mechanic habits caused him to get dirty a fair bit and Sonic often made him have baths. It wasn't the water or getting clean but it was getting soap in his eyes that really annoyed him and he always needed a lot of it thanks to all of his fur. It also took a while for him to get dry for the same reason and his fur always puffed up, earning him a few laughs from his blue hero in the beginning. It didn't happen as much anymore and now know the importance of cleanliness. Of course Sonic never complained about baths and showers when he was older, now however was a different story.

"I'm not getting in Tails" Sonic stubbornly protested, squirming in the fox's grip. Having been forcefully parted with his shoes, socks and gloves Tails was now attempting to get the hedgehog into the water, but his attempts were being thwarted by the hedgehog's stubbornness and hydrophobia.

Sonic wasn't afraid of all water, just pools of water that were deep enough for him to fully submerge himself in. Because he always sank to the bottom in water Sonic always feared drowning which is why he never entered water voluntarily. Sure, he'd brave the water if he was stopping one of Eggman's plots but that was mostly due to the fact that if he didn't the world would suffer. Any other time it was near impossible to get the hedgehog in water.

It was struggle but after five minutes of trying, the fox finally forced the hedgehog into the bath. His unwillingness to help meant Tails had to wash Sonic himself while the hedgehog muttered something about something about water. The only bit the kit caught was when he mentioned Hydrocity, Aquatic Ruin, Water Palace and oddly enough Icecap and Adabat, two place which had lots of water but Tails never remembered Sonic taking a dip there. Remembering how Sonic used to make him do this brought a smile to the fox's face, which turned into a laugh seeing the little hedgehog's sour look.

Several minutes later Sonic was starting to dry himself off, but his older brother wouldn't stop smiling at something and it was starting to annoy him.

"Stop it" he shouted.

That wiped the smile of the fox's face. "Stop what?"

"Stop laughing at me. The bath was your idea."

Tails was stumped by this piece of reasoning. "I don't understand what you're saying Sonic."

"It's not nice to laugh at me because I don't like baths."

"Oh" the fox said in realisation. "I'm sorry about that. I was thinking of something else."

"Like what?" the younger Mobian asked, not really convinced the fox was telling the truth.

Tails blushed a little at this, but the hedgehog's expression said 'there will be trouble if you're lying'. "Okay" he said with a sigh. "I was thinking about how I was exactly like you were back when I was your age."

"Really?" Sonic couldn't imagine Tails being like that. He always seemed so grown up, so very different from himself.

"Yeah, I needed my big brother to wash me to."

"Sounds like you were like me and he was you. Why did he leave you then?" the hedgehog asked. It was a good question, and not one he had an answer to.

"Well, I..."

Thankfully for Tails, he and the still wet hedgehog heard a loud crash outside. Looking outside the window they saw a whole horde of orange robots and a grey hover car flying above them. Inside the hover car was a bold human with a big orange moustache. His eyes were covered by a pair of dark glasses, while he also had a pair of mechanic's goggles on his forehead. He had a red coat on over some black pants which seemed to have shoes attached to them. This was a person both Sonic and Tails recognised instantly.

"Eggman!"

Ohohohohoh" the scientist chuckled. "Tails, Sonic. Today is when this little game of ours finally comes to an end. Come out and face my robot storm!"

"Didn't he already use that one?" Sonic asked before noticing his older brother dashing out of the room. "Wait for me Tails."

"No, Sonic" he replied without turning around. "You stay here and dry off."

"But I can help" Sonic moaned.

"Not with that leg" Tails snapped back, causing the hedgehog's face to fall. "I don't want you to get hurt again."

With that he dashed down the stairs with his younger brother making no attempt to stop him. "_I'm sorry again Sonic_" he thought. "_I always hated it when 'you' told me the same thing. I think I get what he meant now_." He reached the door and put his hand on the handle. "_The difference this time is that I'm not too sure I can handle this by myself_."

With that thought he opened the door to face his foes.


	7. Not a master plan

**Big Brother**

**Chapter 7: Not a Master Plan**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

"_This cannot end well_" was Tails' first thought. Although the small army mainly consisted of Egg Pawns, the weakest of Eggman's army, many of them had some form of weaponry with them. There were a few tougher robots at the back like the Egg Chaser (which surprised the fox as this sort of battle is not what they are designed for) and an Egg Hammer, a robot with armour so thick that someone with Knuckles strength was needed to crack it.

"Well, well" Dr. Eggman started on what the kit assumed was going to be some boring rant which the doctor's voice made incredibly hard to block out (Sonic told him to try it once and it turned out to be true). "Come to meet your doom at my new and improved Robot Storm I see."

"What do you want Eggman?" Tails asked. "Listen, I'm having a bad day without you making it worse. Can you come back tomorrow? It'll give you time come up with a plan that I haven't already seen." Robot Storm was a threat the kit faced against when he, Sonic and Knuckles were trying to stop the scientist from taking over the world with a fleet of airships, only to find out that it was in fact Metal Sonic who temporarily usurped Eggman in his quest to destroy Sonic. Tails repressed this fight because it took place in that weird, ghost invested castle with the switches that flipped gravity.

The human did not take this well. "Excuse me, but I've been having rough days since you and that blue brat decided that I can't have the world. As for this plan, I was feeling a little nostalgic so I decided to update the storm so that it will be your last."

"It was cheap then, and it's cheap now" a voice shouted behind Tails, both geniuses recognising it to be Sonic's.

"Sonic, I told you to stay inside" Tails lectured, his determined expression being met by one of Sonic's own.

"Hey, I got dry so I half listened to you" the hedgehog shot back. "Now, let's deal with Egg-butt and his try-n-save scheme."

"No, you should be resting your leg. Not fighting Eggman's robots. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't be using my legs, I'll be using my head" he said, pointing to it while was resisting the fox urge to roll his eyes at that comment.

"You can't just spin dash" the older Mobian exclaimed. Whatever comeback the hedgehog was planning to say when a laser hit the ground at their feet causing them to turn their attention to Eggman, who had his head in his hand and his fingers drumming on the control panel of the Egg-o-matic.

"If you're quite finished I'm trying to destroy you" he said, obviously bored of the brother's verbal fight. "Now, get them, make them regret ever crossing me."

"Bring on Eggman" Sonic said, a familiar confident smirk appeared on his face before he curled up into ball and shot off before the fox could stop him, leaving trail of destroyed robots in his wake.

"Sonic, wait- whoa." Tails' speech was interrupted by on coming laser fire. He decided the only thing to do was to keep his young charge from hurting himself by joining in. Spinning his namesakes he took to the air, flying above the horde before he mimicked the hedgehog by curling up into a ball of his own and crashing into one of the Egg Pawns. He then quickly uncurled and spun the other way, his tails become razor-like whips that cut though the surrounding robots. As more robots surrounded him he kept up the spin, tearing though more before noticing a robot with a laser gun aiming at Sonic who was still in his spin dash. While it stopped any enemy from getting close to him, the hedgehog was having a hard time changing direction with stopping as he was forced to drift to turn instead of his usual strip stop and turn. The Egg Pawn was using this drift to target him.

"No you don't" Tails said mostly to himself before he dashed over and slammed into the orange piece of metal, causing it to miss before another one wielding a spear pieced it in order to get the kit, only for it to be taken out by the blue blur.

Unfortunately it was then that Eggman decided to put the Egg Chaser to good use. "Those were the easy ones. Time for a change of pace!" he declared as the white robot fired a laser that chased the hedgehog, who had trouble keeping away. Deciding to take action Tails flew up to the white machine and launched his own attack. However it did nothing.

"This machine has thick armour" the kit exclaimed. He didn't notice the hover chair and the egg shaped human floating nearby.

"I knew that you'd appreciate my work, my foxy foe" the human bragged. "It's too bad you won't be able to appreciate it for long. Farewell." He snapped his fingers, signalling the robot to change its attack pattern. Stopping the lasers, the Egg Chaser started to swings its arms in an attempt to hit the airborne fox.

Finding a break in the attacks, Sonic finally stopped and uncurled only to discover that his big brother was now dodging the white machine's destructive swings. "Tails!" he exclaimed before he started to rev up only to stop as his leg hurt. "_Grr, I can't run. What can I do to help_?" he thought. "_I might hit Tails if I spin dash, so what can I do_?"

"_What can I do_?" the fox thought at the same time. "_I can't keep this up for much longer. If that thing hits me, it's all over_." He dodged another strike, trying to get away only to be followed. "_My tails are getting tired and I'm not strong enough to get through that armour. The Tornado could but knowing Eggman he won't let me get to it and will be easy targets as it take off. Even if we can take this down we still have the Egg Hammer to deal with and we need some as strong as Knuckles to deal with that_."

As he was thinking of a solution for his current predicament, the fox failed to notice a claw coming out of the hover chair and grab him. "Hey, let me go!" he cried out.

"Not a chance" Eggman replied instantly. The madman then saw a blue buzz saw sailing towards the claw. Grinning, he clicked his fingers again. "Let's see deal with this."

After seeing his brother be captured by Eggman, Sonic decided to rescue him the only way he knew how. Curling up, he got enough momentum to fire himself at the would-be dictator. Everything seemed to be going fine until he heard a click and a hand block his path and grab him. Struggling to get free, the hedgehog realised that he had forgotten about the Egg Hammer.

"Grr, let me go!" he shouted out, mirroring what Tails had said when he was caught.

"Ohohohohoh, what a great day this is" Eggman cackled. "I finally get to be rid of you two pests. This wasn't even supposed to end you."

"It wasn't?" the brothers said at the same time.

"No, this was only because I was bored but if it works, it works." He pressed a button that caused the claw holding the captive fox further away from the chair. "Now as the oldest, I think I'll finish you off first. Seeing you pummelled by my Egg Chaser will certainly bring a tear to my eye, for a different reason as it would for the brat."

As it stopped, Tails found himself in front of the Egg Chaser which raised a fist. He could see Sonic's eyes watering which caused him to feel not fear but guilt and regret as his life flashed before his eyes. "_I'm sorry Sonic_" he thought. "_You always made being a big brother look so easy. In fact you made everything look easy, saving the world, being the good guy, everything. Sure you're not perfect, but if you were you wouldn't be the best big brother ever. Then I wish you away, pretend that I can do this but I've only upset you, let you get hurt and not let you down. I'm really sorry Sonic, I really let you down this time_." He closed his eyes, waiting for the blow but it never came. As he opened his eyes again, the fox noticed a familiar hammer was now jammed in the centre of the machine before it vanished only to be thrown again, bringing it crashing down on the ground where Amy grabbed her hammer and proceeded to teach it who was boss.

"Careful Mr Tails" another voice cried out as a light blue blur crashed through the claw releasing him.

"Cream, Cheese. What are you and Amy doing here? I thought you had already left?" the fox asked.

"We did but then we heard some loud noises so we decided to see if you were alright" Cream replied as the two Mobians and chao descended as their pink companion finished turning the Egg Chaser into scrap metal.

"Are you okay Tails?" Amy asked.

"I'm alright but we need to rescue Sonic" the kit said, desperately trying not to panic.

"I'd rather you did not" Eggman chipped in as the Egg Hammer started to squeeze him. The hedgehog gritted his teeth not giving the human the satisfaction of showing his pain. "Egg Hammer, swash them!"

The hulking machine lifted its own massive hammer and swung it in an attempt to end the battle in one blow. Tails grabbed Amy and took off, avoiding the hammer while Cream did the same with Cheese. Before the robot had a chance to retract its arm Tails launched Amy at the robot who prepared to swing her hammer while Cream did the same with Cheese. The hedgehog and chao hit at the same time but the only thing the combined attack did was leave a dent.

"What? But how?" Amy exclaimed.

"The armours too thick!" Tails also exclaimed.

"We need Mr Big or Mr Knuckles" Cream added, remembering how she and Amy had to have Big to destroy these robots on their quest to find Sonic, Chocola and Froggy.

Eggman sighed. "I suppose I could settle for destroying just Sonic" he said as the Egg Hammer's grip on the hedgehog tightened.

"You can keep dreaming" Sonic wheezed.

"Oh, but the dream will finally become a reality."

"We won't let you" Tails shouted defiantly, the girls nodding in agreement.

Eggman grinned, his glasses gleaming evilly. "There is nothing you can do."

"I disagree" another voice said as the shoulder with the hand holding the hammer exploded with a figure diving out of the smoke.

"Knuckles!" Tails exclaimed.

"Hey, couldn't help noticing that you needed some help."

"Thanks for taking your time" Amy said with a huff. "Now help us get Sonic."

Normally the echidna would have made some remark about him being free of the speedster but when Eggman was involved it was time to get serious. "Right."

Eggman's face fell. "Curses, I didn't plan on him interfering. Time to gut my losses. Egg Hammer, get rid of Sonic."

As Knuckles rushed forward to finish of the mechanical monstrosity, the robot threw Sonic into the air. As Tails dashed to catch his beloved brother the Egg Hammer flicked the hedgehog on his head during his decent, sending him flying into the metal gear outside the workshop.

The fox, hedgehog and rabbit were stunned at this turn of events as the echidna punched the machine that had caused them so much grief, destroying it. Amy, Cream and Cheese dashed over to see if Sonic was already while Eggman couldn't stop himself from laughing.

Tails was frozen to the spot. "_Sonic, he has to be okay. He has to okay. This is all my fault. I wasn't strong enough, fast enough, good enough to help you. If this was like it should be you would never had let me go through that. I'm sorry_." He looked up and started to seethe as he saw the human.

Knuckles was about to check on the hedgehog when he saw Tails launch himself at Eggman, swiping his namesakes at the chair, catching the dictator off guard. Before anyone could react the fox punched the human, jumped up and swung his tails again sending the hover chair crashing to the ground. Recovering, Eggman noticed the fox land and start walking towards him, a look of pure fury in his eyes. A look that scared the usually in control doctor.

"Now Tails," the doctor spluttered, "let's discuss this. I'm sorry, I'm sure he's okay." His pleading did not deter the kit who raised his fist and started to run. However the fox's charge was stopped by Knuckles, but found Tails was trying to get out of his grip.

"Tails, you need to stop this" the echidna tried to reason. "I understand why you want to hurt him, any other time you would be the one restraining me. But this isn't you, you're the kit that everyone can rely on to do the right thing. Is this the kind of example of you want to set for Sonic?" The kit's struggling stopped a little. "Don't you have to set reality right or something? Come on Tails, you're smarter than this."

"Yes, you're smarter than this" Eggman chipped in, earning him a glare from his temporary saviour.

"I didn't stop him for your sake" he growled. "Now get out of here before I join him!"

Activating his reserve hover on his hover chair, Eggman took off. "_That was too close_" he thought. "_At least this should keep them busy until me and my past self finish our greatest creation ever_."

The human's departure caused the fox to stop resisting Knuckles' grip. "It's all my fault" he whispered so quietly that the Guardian missed it.

"Are you better now?" he asked, seeing the kit's expression change. He let go of Tails' wrists but the fox sunk on to all fours, staring at the ground.

"It's my fault he got hurt" he said, the remorse apparent in his voice. "I wasn't strong enough. He was counting on me to save him and I couldn't." Tears were dripping down his face. "I'm the worse."

Having lived by himself on Angel Island for most of his life, Knuckles was not great at dealing with emotional outbursts like this. He glanced over at the workshop where Amy and Cream were carrying the still unconscious Sonic. Catching his glaze Amy sent one of her own the Guardian interpreted that he would recover in time. Knelling down he started to pat the fox's back. "No you're not. Sonic will be fine eventually. He'll need you to help take care of him now more than ever. It's not the time to wallow in pity."

The kit didn't say anything for a minute, just sobbing. The sobbing stopped and Tails got back on his feet but still had a guilty expression on his face.

"_What he needs isn't me, it's his real brother. Just like how I need mine_."


	8. Past a mile in your shoes

**Big Brother**

**Chapter 8: Past a Mile in your Shoes**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

Contrary to popular belief, Knuckles the Echidna was not a very good at waiting. Yes he was very good at guarding the Master Emerald but that was not waiting, he was fulfilling the duty that had been forced upon him. While Sonic may not be able to tell the difference the Guardian knew that these were two very different actions. Protecting the Master Emerald did not just mean sit and stare at it; it involved going around, checking his traps and keeping the island safe. Defeating Eggman also comes under this duty. The human had come for the powerful gem several times in the past and that in its self made him a threat to his mission in life. And of course he had to look after himself; there were plenty of places to get food and water on the island if you knew where to look. That explained why this felt like it was taking an eternity.

The echidna was sitting in the living room of Tails' workshop, trying to keep his mind busy while he heard news of how Sonic was. Amy, Cream, Cheese and Tails were all upstairs helping in some way or form, he could too if he wanted to but he decided that it was already too crowded in the bedroom so he kept out of the girls' way. Originally Tails was down here with him, pacing and blaming himself for what had happened before he bolted upstairs to see what was happening. He had not come down since.

He didn't like being away from his post for this long unless there was a good reason as to why. The main reason is mostly to stop Eggman which in a way was keeping the Master Emerald safe. Others included finding the shards of the emerald those two times it had broken or if he needed a favour from one of his friends, which didn't happen often. However, the spiky blue loudmouth was hurt, taking a blow to the head and as much as the hedgehog annoyed him he didn't deserve this. Neither did his fox friend, his mental state was another reason as to why he was still here.

Tails' mental state was fragile enough, saving the world and looking after the blue blur was stressful enough without only being eight and having to raise yourself as well. Then he makes up some story about reality changing and that Sonic should be ten years older. As the only person who knew about this Knuckles found himself the most concerned but surely the girls had noticed something was different. They're around enough.

His trail of thought was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. He saw that they belonged to Amy and Cream, the latter holding Cheese in her arms. They didn't look happy.

"How is he?"

Amy answered after glancing at the rabbit. "He's going to fine in time. He took a bad hit to the head but he's Sonic, he shrugged of falling from the Egg Carrier. He needs rest."

This confused Knuckles. "If that's all why do you look so down?"

"Its Tails" the hedgehog said with a sigh.

"Chao chao" Cheese said in the same tone.

"Mr Tails thinks that it is his fault that sonic got hurt" Cream explained. "He said that he was going to say with Sonic until he wakes up. Poor Mr Tails, I don't think I've ever seen him this sad."

"So now what?" the Guardian asked.

"I don't think it's a good idea to leave him alone" Amy said, which Cream and Cheese nodded in agreement.

"Are you staying Mr Knuckles?" the rabbit asked.

"I can't. I have to guard the Master Emerald."

"Really?" she replied sadly.

"You can't even try to stay?" Amy enquired with a huff.

"Believe me, I would if I could but I've been here long enough. If I don't go soon Angel Island will drift too far away from the mountains for me to get back by myself. And I don't know if I trust Tails to fly the Tornado in this state" he explained.

"Hm, I guess I can let you off this once" the pink Mobian said, crossing her arms.

"Be careful Mr Knuckles" the younger Mobian said, both her and her blue companion waving.

"I will" Knuckles replied, opening the door to leave but stopped. "Make sure the kid doesn't do anything stupid." With that he went through and closed the door, sprinting into the horizon.

"I guess he does care" Amy said, still a little miffed that the Guardian left.

"That's unfair Amy" Cream replied. "Mr Knuckles has to watch the Master Emerald so he can't stay. But that doesn't mean he doesn't care." She let go of Cheese who flew towards the window, only to start pointing and crying. "What's wrong Cheese?"

Both girls looked outside the window only to find the sky red. "I didn't know it was that late" Amy thought out loud.

Cream and Cheese's face fell. "Amy, we have to go back home before it get dark or else Mama will be worried."

"I know Cream" the older Mobian said reassuringly. "I think we have enough time to make Tails some dinner, don't you?"

"I think we do."

The fox was sitting on the end of the bed watching his sleeping brother. The girls had wrapped a bandage around the top of his head, a job that was harder than usual because of his quills. "At least he looks peaceful now" he thought. His mood had not lifted and now that he thought about it, the scene was exactly like it had been the night he had made the wish. The older brother sitting at the end of bed watching the younger brother sleep, it brought back some more unpleasant feelings. Judging by the colour the room was the day was nearing its end.

He heard a knocking at the bedroom door. Amy, Cream and Cheese poked their heads in. "Can we come in?" the oldest Mobian present asked.

"Sure" he replied quietly. He notice Cream had a tray of food in her hands.

"We made you some dinner" she explained. "I hope you like it."

The fox made a weak smile. "Thanks, it looks good."

It didn't do anything to raise the pair's spirits. "Tails, we have to go now" Amy said. "Will you be okay by yourself?"

"I will be, when he is" he replied, downtrodden.

He had no idea how long he had sat there, the only indication of time passing was the sky which had turned dark. Once again the stars were shining and the moon was bright, bright enough to light the room. The fox could guess that it was hours since the girls left and he had his food, which was nice. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts and worry that he had not moved.

"_I don't get it. Sonic never seemed to have these problems_" he thought for the hundredth time that night. "_He always seemed so laid back, did he hide this stress from me? But how, I know Sonic better than anyone else and I never noticed anything_." He sighed. "_I could really do with you being here_."

He heard the little hedgehog stirring. "Tails?" he asked.

"Hey Sonic, how're you feeling?"

"I have a banging headache" the replied, rubbing his head. "What happened?" Then a memory resurfaced. "Eggman! What happened to Eggman?"

"Thanks to Amy, Cream, Cheese and Knuckles we were able to drive him off but not before you..." Tails trailed off, not wanting to remember that event.

"Oh, well that's good" he replied before asking, "What's wrong big bro?"

He hesitated and looked away before he answered. "I couldn't save you or even help and look, you got hurt. I'm an awful big brother."

"Don't say that!" the little Mobian burst out. "Yeah I got hurt but I'm fine now. Plus you told me not to fight. I'm sorry for that. Just please don't be sad."

"I don't want to be but after that I... I lost it and attacked Eggman."

Sonic's eyes widened. "Whoa, really?"

"Yeah, if Knuckles hadn't had stopped me..." he trailed off again for the same reason.

"Why's that bad? You would taught Eggman a lesson."

"Because it's not right" he snapped back. "I'm not comfortable hurting people like that. He was so defenceless, it wasn't fair."

"But why?" In Sonic's mind beating up Eggman was a good thing, maybe it would cause him to stop trying to make his lame-o-land or Eggmanland as he called it.

"Because I was brought up not to be like that."

"By that guy you never told me about until today? I don't even know his name."

Tails hesitated again. He was frazzled and couldn't think of a good lie. He had enough of this deceit.

"His name is... Sonic."

"Huh?" That really got the hedgehog's attention. "Your friend has the same name as me?"

"No!" he cried out, "he is you!"

"What?"

"Sonic, you're not my younger brother. You're my older brother. You're supposed to be fifteen, not five."

The fox's exasperated look was met by one of utter confusion. "Are you sure I'm the only one who banged his head?"

"It's true! This only happened because I wanted to know what is what like to be a big brother but I ruined everything." He grabbed his head with his hands. "All day I've made nothing but mistakes. I don't know what to do. I'm only good with machines not looking after people. I now realise that I could never have been a better big brother than you but you try to release some of that stress on me and I wish you out of existence. I now know how hard it is." His eyes welled up. "I'm sorry for everything" he cried out before sobbing into his gloves.

"_I've never seen him like this_" Sonic thought. "_It's scaring me_."

* * *

><p>At that moment, unbeknownst to everyone, even its Guardian, the Master Emerald started to shine in an intense light that would have blinded anybody present. It quickly enveloped the emerald and expanded across the island and soon the land itself, enveloping everything in its path before everything was white.<p>

* * *

><p>As this was happening, Knuckles had just reached the island's surface after scaling the side of the landmass. "Phew, finally at the top" he got out before pulling himself on to his feet. "Maybe I should learn how to fly a plane just in case Tails' insanity doesn't go away." He then saw the light rapidly approaching him. "What is that? The Master Emerald is in that direction. I knew I was away for too long" he berated himself before he quickly dashed towards the light which quickly covered him.<p>

* * *

><p>"Amy, what's that?" Cream asked as they had just reached her house, only for the light to now to quickly approaching them. Cheese was cowering in his owner's hands.<p>

"I don't know" the pink Mobian replied with a serious look on her face. In an instant her Piko Piko Hammer was in her hands. "It's heading this way though, so get ready." The rabbit barely had time to nod her head before the light was upon them.

* * *

><p>The fox was too busy with his emotions to notice the light's arrival but Sonic did, however before he was able to say anything it was already upon them. The next thing the hedgehog knew everything was gone. He was still in the same sitting position he was in but the room was gone, as was Tails. The bandages around his head were gone as well. He didn't panic though, because as soon as the light consumed him new memories filled his head. Or perhaps old memories would be a better term.<p>

He led on his back. "What is it with big brothers and breaking down like that? Is it really that difficult?"

"I think that depends on the little brother" an older version of his voice said. Looking up from his current position he saw an older blue hedgehog who looked exactly like him standing over him.

"Enjoy the show big other me?" the smaller Mobian asked.

"Oh yeah, I just enjoyed watching my little bro mentally break down several times in one day" he replied, his voice full of sarcasm and his eyes rolling.

"It was a simple question" he shot back. "No need to bite my head off about it."

The older speedster sighed and crossed his arms. "I know, I know. Sorry about that, I just don't like this situation."

Little Sonic nodded and got to his feet, a serious expression on his face. "Yeah, I hear that. I mean who could change your world to look like mine, drag me into it, alter my memories so that I think everything's fine and kick you out of the world?"

Big Sonic nodded, his expression the same. "Not just that but why as well. The only reason I can think of is so Tails would get the chance to be the big brother but what the point of that?"

The younger hedgehog stamped his foot. "How could I've not seen that everything was wrong with the world? I knew Tails was hurting but for some reason I couldn't think of why."

"At least you could try and cheer him up. You know how hard it is to watch your little bro keep breaking down like that and not be able to do anything about it."

"So you were watching, I knew it" he exclaimed getting a confused look from the other him. "I thought I could feel you around kinda. Back in the hanger you stopped him from doubting what was right, right? How'd you do that?"

"I have no idea but I'm glad it did as we'd both be in trouble if Tails started thinking that his memories were fake."

"So big me, did you find out who did all this?" he asked hopefully, but his expression dropped as the older Mobian shook his head. "So all day you did nothing?"

"Hey I didn't ask to be bound to Tails in spirit" he shot back.

The younger hedgehog turned his back to his other self and crossed his arms. "I thought old people were meant to be smart."

Older Sonic's eye twitched at this comment. "Old? You little brat! I don't see you coming up with anything either."

"You're ten years older than me; I just guessed that you would have more brain power. Plus I was busy."

"Busy making Tails cry, no wonder the Tails in your reality wanted a break."

That hurt, but he refused to let his eyes water in front of his parallel counterpart. "If you were a better brother a better old man that your Tails wouldn't have wished this to happen in the first place."

"Old man? Do I have to pound some manners into you brat?" he growled clenching a fist and ramming it into his other palm.

The other speedster mirrored the action. "Don't break a hip geezer."

With that they both leapt at each other, rolling around while grabbing each other. It wasn't a real fight, more like wrestling with each and that was something they were both used to doing to get the TV remote with their respective Tails'. The tussle lasted for a few minutes before they bumped into something solid but wet.

Both Sonics looked up to see a person made of water standing over them. If it wasn't for the green blobs that looked like eyes and the brain that was clearly visible in his liquid body it would have looked like a statue. Just looking at this being bought back unpleasant memories for the pair. It looked down towards them, causing the hedgehogs to instantly get to their feet and jump away.

"Ah, it's the living water" the younger speedster shouted.

"Chaos" the older Mobian said, identifying the creature in front of them as Chaos, the God of War and Chao. Something then struck him. "Wait a sec, you're good now right?" Chaos nodded.

"Oh yeah" the other hedgehog said, rubbing the back of his head as he did. "So if Chaos is here then..." He pointed at the water creature. "You did this."

"I don't think so" older Sonic said. "This doesn't seem like something Chaos would do."

"Changing the world isn't something anybody seems to do" younger Sonic retorted.

"True, I'll give you that one. What I meant to say that Chaos isn't likely to do all this." He closed his eyes and put on his confident smirk. "You on the other hand could do this" he shouted to no one in particular. "You have all the power of the Master Emerald to use Tikal."

Mini Sonic was going to comment on the fact that the deceased echidna was not present but another voice from behind spoke first. "Very good Sonic, I'm impressed you figured out it was me."

They spun around to see a female echidna with peachy orange fur and blue eyes behind them. She wore a white tribal dress with a green and red square pattern around the bottom of it. Her gloves were like mittens but unlike Knuckles' lacked the spikes, the cuffs of which were blue bracelets. Her shoes were sandals with bandages wrapped around them and some of her legs. She had two white stripes on one of her dreadlocks. And wore both a necklace and headdress made of gold. This was the ancient echidna spirit who lived in the Master Emerald alongside Chaos, Tikal.

"Wait, you did this?" the little speedster asked.

She nodded. "Why?" Macro Sonic enquired.

"I granted the request of both Tails'" she replied. "Sonic, your Tails wished to know what it was like to be the older brother..."

"We know that" they both said at the same time. Afterward though they both felt a shiver as Chaos appeared right behind them.

"Could you tell Chaos to give us some space?" the younger hedgehog asked.

"He just didn't like how you interrupted me. Chaos, please be good." The God then moved back. "May I continue?" They both nodded. "What you may not know is that I heard that wish and decided to grant it."

"You can do that?" the older speedster said, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"I do have all the Chaos energy in the Master Emerald, like you just said."

"I meant that you could hear him."

"Oh that. Yes, but only because it was a pure wish made on a star. Normally I would ignore it or do something small to try and make it true to some extent, but since I am still thankful to you for restoring to how he once was I decided to grant it."

"You pulled me out of my world for that?" the younger Mobian shouted. "Why? And why me?"

"And why put Tails through that if you're thankful" the other Sonic joined in.

"To help bring you closer" she answered.

"What?"

"Now Tails understands what you go through and how it makes you feel so now you can relate to each other even more."

"And me?" the other speedster asked.

"I have some limited ability to traverse realities parallel ton ours and in order to allow my plan to happen I brought the little Sonic and reshaped our world to resemble that one."

"About that..." he spoke up again. "Why not just put his Tails in my world?"

"Because I did not want Sonic to worry band the other Tails wanted to know what it was like to not have Sonic to look after, I thought I could do both at once. Afterwards I kept Sonic's spirit in the world similar to myself and altered the little Sonic's memories so that he wouldn't notice anything was wrong."

"Wow" Big Sonic gasped. "You're kinda scary when you want be."

Little Sonic looked down towards the 'ground'. "Did... did he miss me?" he asked quietly.

Tikal nodded. "Of course he did. He spent the whole day looking for you."

His expression lifted. "Can I go and see him?"

"Yes, Tails has learnt the lesson so I can now restore everything back to how it was. This even will only be remembered in this world by us and Tails. In your world Sonic..."

"Everything will stay the same" the young speedster finished. "I'm fine with that." He turned to his other self. "Well, I guess this is see ya."

"I guess he replied" before holding out his palm which the other slapped straight away. "Give your Tails a break once in a while" he said with a smirk.

The grin was returned. "You better make sure your Tails stays happy or else."

"Or else what? You won't exist in our world anymore."

"You think that would stop me."

"Nah." With that the already white world became even brighter before everything vanished once again.

* * *

><p>The next thing he knew Sonic was back in his own room with Tails sobbing in front of him. He instantly knew what to do to make his little bro feel better, give him nice big hug.<p>

Tails found him in an embrace but the other person felt bigger than him, which was a surprise. He thought that the only people here were him and...

"You did fine little bro."

"Sonic?" It was Sonic, his Sonic. Not the little hedgehog that he had to look after but his best friend, his hero, his big brother. He quickly returned the hug. "But how did you get back to normal?"

"Tikal changed everything back to normal after you figured out that looking after someone all the time is hard" he said with his trademark grin.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Sonic. I know now that it's difficult and stressful and sometimes even you need to blow off steam. At least you knew who to aim it at" he said, his voice ladled with regret.

"No I don't. You are not the person I should be taking it out on" he replied."I'm really sorry to put to through that."

With that look in his eyes, Tails knew that he was telling the truth. "Yeah, put at least you didn't almost beat up someone" he said, with a half smile.

"True, true. And that's not right, so I'm going to have to make sure you don't do it again." The fox knew what this meant but it was too late, Sonic put him in a headlock and gave him a nuggie.

After struggling for a minute or so, Tails finally got out Sonic's grip. "Ha ha." His face fell. "You make it look so easy. You do one thing and I'm feeling better already."

"To be fair Tails, I make everything look easy as I'm a pro." The hedgehog smug look was met by Tails' "no you're not face". "Okay, so I'm not. But you make my job a lot easier by being the best little brother ever. I mean, back then I wasn't as cool as I am now."

"Yeah." The kit replied, his tone indicating that he wasn't convinced by the hedgehog's last statement. "Not how I would put it, but yeah you weren't as cool as what you are now." A second of silence passed. "Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"Did I ever thank you for always being there went I really needed you?"

"Hmmm" the hedgehog replied, putting on his thinking face. "Maybe once or twice but that was a long time ago." He was then piled on by the fox, who pulled him into another hug.

"Well, thanks for everything Sonic. I could never imagine life without you."

Sonic grin crept back on his face. "You're welcome. I don't want to think what life would be like without you. If I had some wish to be granted I don't know what it would be as I already have the world's best friend and best little bro."

"And I have the world's best big bro" he said with a yawn. The hedgehog then found the kit's eyelids drooping, the day's events and all of his worrying must have tired him out. Before he fell asleep Tails was able to get out "Thanks for being you."

The blue hedgehog smiled. "Right back at ya" he said before he also fell into slumber with his best friend by his side, huddling up to him.

"Thanks for being you too."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: As promised, one rewritten ending. Well I stay that but it's more of the extented version of it. I hope that it's better than how it was. I've also gone back through the past chapters, correcting mistakes and putting thoughts in italics (why didn't I do that in the first place?). <strong>

**Thanks for reading and there will be more. Please review. **


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